BEYOND

SYNDICALISM

AFFINIT¥ GRO

AGAINST

·ORGANISATION 0

SYNTHESIS

INFORMAL

ORGANISATION

NATIONAL

LIBERATION

PALESTINE

OUT OF THE GHE

.......iM+N R10TS I

·PLYMOUTH

DIRECT ACTIO

ANTI-NU CLE

SABOTAG� IN I

Back again! And much has happened lately to encourage us to repropose-more clearly and more directly-a road towards a form of anarchist organisation and action that is relevant to the present day. In the period that has elapsed since we last produced an issue of Insurrection we have seen: a more advanced restructuring of capital, reduction in the importance of the political apparatus, the phenomenon of planetary reformism (ie Russia, China), and a tighter control over Third World struggles, all part of the ruthless traject­ory of a self-propelled mechanism that will not come to a halt until it reaches the ultimate destruction of all that contains a thrust towards life-or until it is destroyed. Not much cause for encouragement you might say. Certainly an assessment of the struggle against this reality based on the logic of counter-attack in quantitive or military terms is doomed to failure. This has been de­monstrated over the past decade on the one hand by the decline in the trade unions, on the other that of the clandestine armed groups. The latter, from being the stars of the front pages all over Europe for a decade, have become in their miserable remains nothing more than a scarecrow flying a tattered flag of surrender, repentence and complicity. But scarecrows serve against the high flyers, those who want to take over the cabbage patch to exploit it as their own. They have little effect on the contradictions within the field subjected to a planned culture which in order to survive must dominate the whole of the living terrain upon which it has imposed its project. We can see this in many areas of the world today, not least in Western Europe and Britain itself. Here the contra­dictions produced by the relentless restructuring of capital, the instauration of information technology, robotisation of production, redundancy of the traditional worker, urban projects of 'social dispersion', re­duced schooling, reduced public spending, increased policing, self-policing, creation of consensus, etc, are enough to show that capital's transition to its post-industrial phase is not going to happen smoothly. The mini-riots, intergang violence amalgamated into attacks against police, arson attacks, acts of sabotage, small actions undertaken by individuals or groups of individuals in various parts of the social terrain, all point to a new direction that the struggle is taking, one that is turning away from the old massive structures which could count thousands of members, but which substantially followed the directives of a few, filtered down through a tightly hier- archical structure; and away from the closed, clan-destine specific groups with their spectacular actions carried out in a neomilitary logic. Small actions, there­sophisticated means simplicity and spon­They make a mock­ery of even the most advanced technologi­cal developments in counter-insurgency. This is what capital and the State are afraid of, this is the news that never makes the headlines but is carefully concealed from the public eye. This is the good news that we intend to spread and augment in this and our future work.

2

fore, easily reproducable, requiring un­that are available to all, are by their very

taneity uncontrollable.

Antonio TeUez

ELEPHANT

EDITIONS ANARCHIST

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Severino Di Giovanni in Argentina 1923-1931

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THE GREAT FRENCH REVOLUTION

Peter Kropotkin 2 vols £3.95 each

FROM RIOT TO INSURRECTION

ANALYSIS FORAN ANARCHIST PERSPECTIVE AGAINST POST

CAPITALISM A/freiJoM Bonanno

FROM RIOT TO INSURRECTION by Alfredo M. Bonanno

ISBN No 1 870133 08 0 60 pages £1

With the industrial worker no longer central to production as emphasis changes from industrial to intellectual technology in the creation of post industrial capitalism, Riot to Insurrection

shows how this new logic of capital is creating islands of privi­lege for those INCLUDED in its project. Changes such as de­centralisation of production, use of computers, robots, the pre­eminence of the services sector, polarisation of education, all create barriers against the mass of EXCLUDED who will only be allowed access to enough of this new dominant LANGUAGE to use passively. This inaccessability and segregation is essential to the repressive project because without a LANGUAGE in common the EXCLUDED are deprived of even knowing what to ask for. This results in the latter being pushed in a thousand ways towards impetuous, irrational, spontaneous rebellion. For in this new phase Capital has made reformist politics and parties redundant along with the industrial worker. The class struggle has not been overcome as some say therefore but has changed its form. Riot to insurrection gives a clear perspective of what is happening around us and with its analysis opens a door to for­mulating new ways of organisation and intervention. With this short and concise pocketbook ELEPHANT EDITIONS have brought to the attention of English readers an essential analysis which will stimulate to say the least. d.c.a

39

SABATE - · ; Guerilla Ext .-raordinary

THE ANTI NU IN THE.U ~LEAH:',IOVF.J\I .• AND EVrio:J:r

ANARCIIIST POCKETS OOKSN08

·-

Sabotage Against Two Bastions of the British Ruling Class

During the night of March 6 two

incendiary devices ignited, one in Sel­

fridges in Oxford Street, the other in

Harrods in Knightsbridge. The actions

speak for themselves. Not only were they

striking at merchandise and consumerism,

the objectives chosen are in themselves

monuments of a class that enriches itself

through the rationally planned exploit­

ation and genocide of men, women,

children and animals that knows no

national boundaries.

Molotovs Against the Police in Belgium

On April 23 in Brussels nine police cars were set alight.

Two cars were struck by molotovs while they were parked in front of police stations. The others were set fire to di­rectly inside a private garage where they were being overhauled.

Massacre of Tikuna Indians in Brazil

The Tikuna are the largest Indian tribe in Brazil. The Amazon region, their home, is under invasion from timber companies and gold prospectors.

At the end of March a group of about 90 men, women and children had gone to Capacete as they had an appoint­ment with a National Indian Agency law­yer and a police officer concerning the theft of one of their animals by a local trader and timber operator.

Camped around the house of a rela­tive, the people waited in vain for the officials to show up. Instead the timber operator appeared himself, with about 20 armed men who immediately began shooting the unarmed Indians. Four­teen of the men, women and children were shot dead as they ran for their can­oes in an attempt to escape. 27 were wounded. No one has been arrested.

This is just the latest act of blind violence in the attempt to move the Indians off land that is coveted by timber companies, mining companies and gold prospectors. The National Indian Agency is helping them in their genocidal pro­ject by removing doctors and nurses, leav­ing the Indians without any medical assistance to fight the disease brought in by these new invaders.

38

Paint Bombs Against the 'Restotram' in Turin

In April the "Ristotrarr. ", a luxurious

mini-"Orient-Express" reserved for the

bored rich bourgeoisie who have lunch

while going on a tourist trip round the

city, assisted by a number of fascinating

hostesses, was inaugurated in Turin. But on April 23 some of the corpses

in party clothes suddenly found their

"journey" brightened up when the white carriages were hit by paint-bombs thrown by a group of young people who had surr­ounded them outside the Duomo cath­edral. Some windows of the luxury tram were broken and passengers were stained with black and red paint.

Paper Protest

On Easter Monday CND demonstra­tors outside Aldermaston Atomic Wea­pons Establishment, Berkshire, tied thou­sands of paper doves to the perimeter fence.

Living with Danger

On March 31 a French Mirage jet crashed into a hillside near three nuclear power stations in Bavaria. Around the same time an unexploded mortar bomb was discovered buried at the site used to store radioactive waste from Sellafield.

With this issue of Insurrection we are addressing ourselves to anarchists and all those

who feel themselves to be in a situation of antagonism against the domination of the

State and capital. We also address ourselves to those who are disheartened and perhaps

even disgusted by the absorption of certain structures that once held high banners and

hopes within the workers movement We address ourselves to those who have begun to

see the charade of pacifism as futile in the attempt to move the nuclear industry (both

civil and military) an inch. We address ourselves to those who realise that school has

taught them nothing and that university is becoming more and more an annex of in­

dustrial development. We address ourselves to those who see that science is no longer

neutral-if it ever was-and to those who see that the struggle against the vile experi­

mentation on animals in all fields cannot be fought as a single issue struggle but must be

brought into the global project of the capitalist enterprise. We address ourselves to those

who see that the feminist movement while bringi,ng women's issues into the open, can­

not alone bring women to be free beings. We address ourselves to those who see that

although the colour of their skin is the most immediate cause of their oppression, to

fight back on that level alone merely leads to a more refined form of exploitation. To

those who see that even if their colonial exploiters are chased away they will still a

local bourgeoisie to contend with. To those who see that moral indignation is not

enough. That simply adhering to a movement in name and having no concrete project

is not enough. We address ourselves to those who want to take the risk of throwing old

schema out of the window and look for a new road. An informal, flexible road. One

which requires the constant engagement of comrades in a dimension of permanent

conflictuality, not sporadic moments, spectacular displays of numerical strength. To

those for whom reform is nothing but a support to capital. To those who are not afraid

to speak of revolution without a cynical smile on their lips. For those who want every­

thing now and are prepared to make sure they get i� realising that this can only be done

through the development of both a specific anarchist movement organised informally,

and the relationship of that movement with mass organisms which give themselves inter­

mediate aims in an insurrectional logic. We address ourselves to those therefore who

realise that this road is one that we must work to create, experimenting together. What we are offering here is one instrument in that project. Not abstract

theory but an attempt to go forward and develop means that are adequate to the present day in the

struggle towards a free society. Much of the analytical and theo­retical contributions are the fruit

of involvement in the struggle elsewhere in recent years, also by

some of the Insurrection com­ades ourselves. It is therefore

also an attempt to break down some of the geo­

graphical and linguistic barriers that are an

obstacle preventing a full development of

the struggle.

3

SOCIAL CONFLICT As the clash between oppression and exploitation continues the struggle must be direct and based on permanent con­

flict. Any attempt to mediate with the institutional forces leads to selling out the potential for revolutionary struggle.

As the situation today becomes in­creasingly difficult to endure, it becomes the more important to realise that atti­tudes of accomodation and compromise are causing serious damage to the deve­lopment of revolutionary struggle.

If we intend to change our situation we cannot continue with ideology. We must examine the relations within ex­ploitation and repression and take an un­reservedly active part in the struggle. We must single out precise objectives and back them up with methods that show a subversive strategy capable of expressing a global project of proletarian self liber­ation.

) I

)

Permanent conflictuality can only be carried out on the basis of a correct eval­uation of capital and the State and their role in the social conflict.

As anarchists we know that although many people go on demonstrations, the social question cannot be resolved through mediation with the institutions. This might lead to an evolution of soc­iety but avoids the necessary destruction of all the structures of dominion. A correct analysis imposes the need to use violence. The bosses will not give up what they have spontaneously. The only thing that will be effective is the organised material strength that proletarians have at

their disposition. The knowledge that this frightens

our annchair intellectuals is nothing new. Their aim is to safeguard their privilege and conceal the necessarily destructive part of the anarchist revolutionary pro­ject that is not very palatable to the many liberal democrats.

They point out the bad element in­citing the arousal of class hatred, unleash­ing bad passions and social warfare. This perspective is demonised by those who would preserve their own personal tran­quility, the bigots of the movement who extoll the virtues of nonviolence, pacifism, etc. Those who do not agree and who do not identify themselves with their prac­tices, are deemed the violent and intoler­ant part of the movement who have still to learn the ways of the world.

In reality nonviolence, pacifism and tolerance are very useful to the bosses, certainly not to the exploited whose so­cial conditions are in open contrast to concepts of resignation. Democracy is a refined system of domination, preferable to most dictatorships, but not for this does it justify compromise.

In this dimension conflictuality should be seen as a permanent element in the struggle against those in power. A struggle which lacks this element ends up pushing us towards mediating with the in­stitutions, grows accustomed to the habits of delegating and believing in an illusory emancipation carried out by par­liamentary decree, to the very point of actively participating in our own exploit­ation ourselves.

This is what is beginning to happen. Democratic conflict invites the ex­

ploited to be passive and have faith in their 'leaders', to the point of docility. But revolutionaries are refusing to water down their ideas and actions with the hu­manitarian chatter of the reformists.

No synthesis is possible between do­minator and dominated, between exploit­er and exploited. Our logic leads to the suppression of one or other of the terms. To reach this we must extend permanent conflictuality. Every experience of daily life becomes valid if it is expressed as part of an antagonistic struggle that is openly and violently against the present state of affairs. p.p.

\\ \

Murder by Media On March 20, 30 year old James

Connelly was found dying in a pool of blood in Walworth, South London. A labourer, he had been in England for just four weeks, his home being in Galway, Eire. He had gone out to buy cigarettes and was stabbed and beaten to death., probably because of his strong Irish accent.

This comes as a direct result of the crescendo of anit-Irish hysteria reached by the Press following the spontaneous crowd reaction against the sudden erup­tion of two British soldiers at an IRA

militant's funeral in Belfast-driving at speed into the crowd, armed, in plain clothes-in the context of the massacre that had taken place two days before

He is not the only the victim of media-incited hatred of the Irish people. A 52-year old Irish woman was stabbed to death outside a Birmingham pub at the same time, following a row about the same event.

In their delay in handing over the video film of the event, the local BBC boss tried to maintain a position of the media's "independence" from the State. In fact he was only trying to save his own skin.

Sabotage against the BBC

Four high school pupils had no inten­tions of playing the game and asking any questions of the establishment pundits. They were all suspended after cutting a cable and wrecking a live broadcast of BBC 4's "Any Questions" at William Farr High School near Lincoln.

36

Without the constant attack on the exploited of Ireland by the media through stereotyping, 'Irish jokes', poli­tical fiction (eg TV plays depicting English housewives being blown up by explosives planted in milk bottles by the IRA), misreporting, mystification, all with the underlying theme that being Irish is equivalent to being a crazy violent psychopath.

Without this indispensable work by the media, the British army would not have been able to continue its colonial repression, the beatings, the shootings, killing of children with rubber bullets, the body-searches, the barbed wire. All this, filtered through media lies and distortions are made to seem to the differently but equally exploited of "mainland" oppression, seem not only normal but necessary.

Real internationalist solidarity with the exploited of Ireland must not only in­clude active counter-information but a decided attack on the structures of the media, class war propaganda machine of the State.

Theoretical Clarity

A radical critique of the Labour Party's swindling, embroiling and re­pressing of workers and exploited for the most part of this century, reached home in the form of a brick through Neil Kinnock's front window. A china orna­ment was smashed.

Black Liberation

An incendiary device was found on an estate in Pendeford, Wolverhampton just before Home Office minister John Patten was due to arrive to launch a cam­paign to "cut crime in Britain's inner cities". A call to a local newspaper ex­plained: "if the police do not stop their oppressive surveillance of the black com­munity we will continue our struggle until one of them is dead".

Already in March last year an incen­diary device was found outside the Wol­verhampton civic centre; in July a car wired with a bomb was left outside the Birmingham Road police station, and in November a police car was petrol bombed when it responded to a hoax call. The Black Liberation Front has also claimed the launching of bricks through the win­dows of the homes of former Wolver­hampton Council labour leader John Bird, and that of a black councillor Mel Chevanne Reeves.

These actions follow the death of Clinton McCurbin, murdered in February last year by police who were arrestj.ng him. Needless to say local black leaders whose role is to placate the black popu­lation, especially the young, controlling and rechannelling their liberatory needs into harmless repetitive enactment within a tightly ghettoised mentality, have con­demned and taken a distance from these attacks with cries of 'agent-provocateurs' 'fascists' and such like, showing their own racism by stating that no black group would want to attack black leaders and politicians. Why not?

Direct Action against Shell in Holland

One day early in March, the Shell petrol pumps in over 20 Dutch towns were damaged in protest against the company's refusal to stop dealing with South Africa. Petrol hoses were cut, self­service machines wrecked and the slogans "Shell blood" and "Shell supports Apart­heid" were painted at the sites.

Rioting in Shaftesbury Avenue

English football fans fought police and smashed shop windows in Shaftes­bury Avenue on the day of the England/ Holland football match. Later, at the match itself, police in riot gear came under a barrage of cans by about 500 English supporters outside the stadium.

Beyond W orkerism Beyond Syndicalism

Le unionism is in its decline. Ingood as in evil with this structural form of struggle an era is disappearing, a model and a future world seen in terms of an improved and corrected reproduction of of the old one.

We are moving towards new and pro­found transformations. In the productive structure, in the social structure.

Methods of struggle, perspectives, even short term projects are also trans­forming.

In an expanding industrial society the trade union moves from instrument of struggle to ·instrument supporting the productive structure itself.

Revolutionary syndicalism has also played its part: pushing the most combat­ive workers forward but, at the same time, pushing them backwards in terms of capacity to see the future society or the creative needs of the revolution. Every­thing remained parcelled up within the factory dimension. Workerism is not just common to authoritarian commun­ism. Singling out privileged areas of the class clash is still today one of the most deep-rooted habits that it is difficult to lose.

The end of trade-unionsim therefore. We have been saying so for fifteen years now. At one time this caused criticism and amazement, especially when we in­cluded anarcho-syndicalism in our cri­tique. We are more easily accepted today. Basically, who does not criticise the trade unions today? No one, or almost no one.

But the connection is overlooked. Our criticism of trade unionism was also criticism of the "quantitive" method that has all the characteristics of the party in embryo. It was also a critique of the spe­cific organisations of synthesis. It was also a critique of class respectability borrowed from the bourgeoisie and filter­ed through the cliches of so-called pro­letarian morals. All that cannot be ignor­ed.

If many comrades agree with us to­day in our now traditional critique of trade-unionism those who share a view of all the consequences that it gives rise to

are but a few. We can only intervene in the world

of production using means that do not

place themselves in the quantitive pers­pective. They cannot therefore claim to have specific anarchist organisations be­hind them working on the hypothesis of revolutionary synthesis.

This leads us to a different method of intervention, that of building factory "nucleii" or zonal "nucleii" which limit themselves to keeping in contact with a specific anarchist structure, and are exclusively based on affinity. It is from the relationship between the base nucleus and specific anarchist structure that a new model of revolutionary struggle

on the horizon. Already the classical workers' front no longer exists. Like­wise the trade union as is obvious. At least it no longer exists in the form in which we have known until now. It has become a firm like any other.

A netwoik of increasingly different relations, all under the banner of partici­pation, pluralism, democracy, etc, will spread over society bridling almost all

the forces of subversion. The extreme aspects of the revolutionary project will be systematically criminalised.

But the struggle will take new roads,

The end of syndicalism corresponds to the end of workerism For us it is also the end of the quantitive illusion of the party and

the specific organisation of synthesis The revolt of tomorrow must look for new roads

emerges to attack the structures of capital and the State through recourse to insur­rectional methods.

This allows for a better following of the profound transformations that are taking place in the productive structure. The factory is about to disappear, new productive organisations are taking its place, based mainly on automation. The workers of yesterday will become part­ially integrated into a supporting situa­tion or simply into a situation of social security in the short-term, survival in the long one. New forms of work will appear

will filter towards a thousand new sub­terranean channels, emerging in a hun­dred thousand explosions of rage and des­truction, with new and incomprehensible symbology.

As anarchists we must be careful, we carriers of an often heavy mortgage from the past, not to remain distanced from a phenomenon that we end up not under­standing and whose violence could one fine day even scare us. And in the first case we must be careful to develop our analysis in full.

a.m.b.

5

Israeli Products Attacked in Solidarity with the Palestinians in Struggle

Various anonymous telephone calls have been made to daily papers in Italy warning that quantities of Jaffa oranges had been poisoned in solidarity with the Palestinians in struggle. The news caused panic.

In Rome the press received notifi­cation from 'Metropolitan Proletarians' in solidarity with the struggle of the Pal­estinians, that grafruit had been poisoned. 70,000,000 kilos of the fruit were remov­ed from commerce and supplies to all American military bases in Europe blocked.

On analysis it transpired that the grapefruit contained a harmless blue dye used in certain gourmet fish dishes.

Anti-NATO Attack in Spain

On April 16 a bomb exploded inside the telecommunications centre of the American civil aviation in Los Santos de La Humosa, which is ten kilometres away from the Torrejon US air base , near Madrid.

The explosion caused considerable material damage and no victims. So far no one has claimed responsibility for it.

Prison Parcels

This time for the governors. Two parcel bombs arrived addressed to the directors of two Spanish prisons where Basque guerrillas are being held.

Breaking Out

Seven prisoners being held in cells in

subhuman conditions liberated themselves

by hitting a police sergeant over the head

during an "exercise period" in a cramped

corridor. Four police screws were then

overpowered and found themselves lock­

ed in one of their own cells. Meanwhile

the seven unlocked a few doors and walk­

ed out of South West London magis­

trate's court police station unnoticed.

A few days later a 21 year old prisoner

being transferred from Alton to Winches­

ter prison attacked his escorts during the

journey, broke free from his handcuffs

and escaped in a police car. The car was

later found near Whitehall. 35

34

Fire Attacks on Police Stations and Courts

Grand National Sabotage

The West Ham police station was set fire to on November 5 last year, Newham East Court, Stratford on March 3, Forest Gate police station met the same fate on March 5 and so did Newham West Court on March 7. A fifty-three year old un­employed man Charles White has been held in custody.

On the morning of the Grand Nat­ional, day when horses are pushed to the slaughter by the multi-million pound gambling business based on illusions of wealth by the poor, and the greed of the rich to get richer, thirty William Hill bett­ing shop doors in London were found sealed with superglue.

Three red light cinemas, the Embassy, the Orfeo and the Etoile in Palermo, Sicily, specialised in pronographic films were struck recently.

L, . .....-, .. i The news comes to us from anarchist monthly Provocazione. Here is what they say: "In Palermo the cinemas Embassy, Orfeo and the Etoile, specialised in pornographic films, have been struck. Nothing

can be more squalid than these localities. Personally we have nothing against eroticism or the fantasy of love. But pomographic reification is as far as one can imagine from creativity, inventiveness, the un­certainty and the problematic search for pleasure (one's own and that of others). This leaflet was left in the areas where the actions took place: "We have stunk out the temple of the cult of reification. ram�:

-..-,.,:=

.-�,.,;,,.:,,.;,, .,,., ·,, .... · . ./�:

imprisonment of the most beautiful thing we can make and feel, love, so as not to become slaves and accomplices of the annihilation of our real needs. First they take them from us, then sell back disgusting, alienating and toxic surrogates through the mercantile system, making tasty profits. As well as the joke, damage as well!!! Capitalism, its agents and its goods must be attacked and destroyed. We refuse to go along with them. Against the culture of death, war, hunger: perma­nent rebellion. Revolutionary Nucleus

The leaflet also gave a few instructions on how to produce a highly stinking compost capable of lasting for a considerable time, so much so as to cause the immediate rush from the localities in question, followed by lengthy, expensive procedures of disinfection. "Take some good large potatoe�. cut off the tops, empty the rest without breaking it using a spoon. Fill with oil (old engine oil works best but any will do) and a handful of earth. Put the top back on tightly and attach with string or toothpicks. The 'restructured' potatoe should then be put in a jar of water full to the brim. Close tightly. A week later, holding your nose, use and discard."

attempting to see the pigs get a beating they will remember. Another reason fot their intervention is to try to get Union Street shut down because of the 'hard

line' violence it produces and the effect this has on nearby estates.

The 'organised riot' was met by an army of bouncers and doormen who in­tervened. A masked rioter interviewed on local television next day threatened retri­bution against the doormen for their "lack of working class solidarity".

There are frequent attacks on police in other areas too. Looting is becoming a frequent event, as is 'community shop­ping' -mass shoplifting or daylight loot­ing. Highly concealed spy cameras are being fitted by police to try to end this 'organised crime'. The main police res­ponse in an area that until recently was under the auspices of Super Soft Cop Anderson, is 'community policing'. They have set up a massive surveillance scheme with unpaid informers on every street, and neighbourhood watch systems. The real purpose of this is capillary social control. The police are on school boards of governors. They run several youth clubs and even took 100 kids on holiday -what better way to find out what isgoing on-kids (if they are young enough)will talk! Some residents have offeredtheir homes as surveillance points forcops who are very much into 'soft polic­ing', often stopping and 'chatting' to findout more information. They are trying toget the council to open up school play­grounds as playing areas at night. These

We feel this situation is not limited to Plymouth and ask comrades in other areas to make known what is really happening in this country.

are to be well lit to allow police to watch and listen to what is going on.

These new advances in policing and control are to a large extent based on the consent of some of the people on the estates in question. This consent is given in some cases because of fear produced by a violence they cannot always under­stand.

We feel this situation is not limited to Plymouth and, because such and simi­lar facts are not widely reported, we ask comrades in other areas to make known what is really happening in this country and open up a debate on the question, in the perspective of future action.

Some comrades from Plymouth

Beyond the Structure of Synthesis INSTEAD OF AN ANARCHIST ORGANISATION

OF SYNTHESIS WE PROPOSE AN INFORMAL

ANARCHIST ORGANISATION BASED ON

STRUGGLE AND THE ANALYSES THAT

EMERGE FROM IT

Anarchists of all tendencies refuse the model of hierarchical and authoritarian organisation. They refuse parties, vertical structures which impose directives from above in a more or less obvious way. In positing the liberatory revolution as the only social solution possible, anarchists consider that the means used in bringing about this transformation will condition the ends that are achieved. And authori­tarian organisations are certainly not in-

an anarchist structure such as a structure of synthesis presents not a few dangers

struments that lead to liberation. At the same time it is not enough to

agree with this in words alone. It is also necessary to put it into practise. In our opinion an anarchist structure such as a structure of synthesis presents not a few dangers. When this kind of organisation develops to full strength as it did in Spain in '36 it begins to resemble a party. Syn­thesis becomes control. Certainly in quiet periods this is barely visible, so what we are saying now might seem like blas­phemy.

This kind of structure is based on groups or individuals who are in more or less constant contact with each other, and has its culminating moment in per­iodical congresses. In these congresses the basic analysis is discussed, a pro­gramme is drawn up and tasks are divided covering the whole range of social inter­vention. It is an organisation of synthesis because it sets itself up as a point of re­ference capable of synthesizing the struggles taking place within the class clash. Various groups intervene in the struggles, give their contribution, but do not lose sight of the theoretical and prac­tical orientation that the organisation as a whole decided upon during the congress.

Now, in our opinion, an organisation structured in this way runs the risk of being behind in respect of the effective level of the struggle, as its main aim is that of carrying the struggle to within its project of synthesis, not of pushing it to­wards its insurrectional realisation. One of its main objectives is quantitive growth in membership. It therefore tends to draw the struggle to the lowest common de­nominator by proposing caution aimed at putting a brake on any flight forwards or any choice of objectives that are too exposed or risky.

Of course that does not mean that all the groups belonging to the organisation of synthesis automatically act in this way: often comrades are autonomous enough to choose the most effective proposals and objectives in a given situa­tion of struggle. It is a mechanism intrin­sic to the organisation of synthesis how­ever that leads it to making decisions that are not adequate to the situation, as the main aim of the organisation is to grow to develop as wide a front of struggle as possible. It tends not to take a clear and net position on issues, but finds a way, a political road that displeases the fewest and is digestable to most.

the main fear is that of the unknown which pushes us towards organisational schema and formalism

The reactions we get when making criticisms such as this are often dictated by fear and prejudice. The main fear is that of the unknown which pushes us towards organisational schema and for­malism among comrades. This safeguards us from the search hinged on the risk of finding ourselves involved in unknown ex­periences. This is quite obvious when we see the great need some comrades have

for a formal organisation that obeys the requirements of constancy, stability and work that is programmed in advance.

In reality these elements serve us in our need for certainty and not for re­volutionary necessity.

On the contrary we think that the in­formal organisation can supply valid start­ing points for getting out of this uncer­tainty.

This different type of organisation seems to us to be capable of developing -contrary to an organisation of synthe­sis-more concrete and productive rela­tionships as they are based on affinityand reciprocal knowledge. Moreover, themoment where it reaches its true poten­

tial is when it participates in concretesituations of struggle, not when drawingup theoretical or practical platforms,statutes or associative rules.

an organisation structured informally is not built on the basis of a programme fixed in a congress

An organisation structured infor­mally is not built on the basis of a pro­gramme fixed in a congress. The project is realised by the comrades themselves in the course of the struggle and during the development of the struggle itself. This organisation has no privileged instrument of theoretical and practical elaboration, nor does it have problems of synthesis. Its basic project is that of intervening in a struggle with an insurrectional objective.

However great the limitations of the comrades involved in the informal kind of anarchist organisation might be, and what the latter's defects might be, the method still seems valid to us and we consider a theoretical and practical exploration of it to be worthwhile.

g.c.

7

.. .,_

, !

Mini Riots in Plymouth

The centre of Plymouth and its lustreless shopping precinct full of mega-stores churning out consumer trash seems far from pitched battles with police, but these take place regularly on the estates where the inhabitants, especially the young, are excluded from the dubious privilege of participating in the consumer­ist ritual. As one concerned "community worker" said, there is a Kind of Berlin Wall separating the young estate dwellers from the city centre amenities.

The main scenes of riot are Union Street, the North Prospect Estate, Devon­port, Stonehouse, Mount Gould and Plymstock.

North Prospect in particular has a history of riots and frequent attacks on the police. "It was an accepted fact that

hoax calls are made to the police who are subsequently ambushed on their arrival

every November 5 a few police cars would be turned over, trees pulled up and fences pulled down." (ex-resident) Vio­lence is often spontaneous, the people arrested are often very drunk. Shops in the area are looted and alcohol is taken. Sometimes however the violence is more organised: hoax calls are made to the police who are subsequently ambushed on their arrival. The police and their ve­hicles are generally considered to be legi­timate targets.

In September '86 a miniriot took place on the estate. The locally infamous "Swilly", the "homes for heroes" of Ply­mouth's first post-war "garden suburb" found itself the scene of burning barri­cades after police attempted (and failed) to arrest youths assembled in Wordsworth Road. Windows were broken, fencing ripped out, cars smashed and houses were stoned. By 10.00 pm after a fierce battle with police, three arrests were made and damage was cleared up. The event shook Plymouth however and an army of church crusaders, community police and neighbourhood watchers were mobilised to ensure a redress of the balance of class power.

At Mount Gould it was the closing down of the local youth club that was the catalyst for violence escalating into riot. The property was owned by a local hospi­tal who wanted to take it back and use it.

Attacks on police, burning cars and mass looting are common occurances.

Community workers, church leaders and 'soft' police have joined forces to

recuperate the rebellion. We must clarify and extend this class violence.

The youths and children of the area, find­ing themselves robbed of the one space they had been conceded till then res­ponded by attacking the hospital with stones. Caches of petrol bombs were dis-

The riot that ensued resulted in consider­able damage being done to private and police property.

covered in the area. Nurses were attacked. The riot that ensued resulted in consider­able damage being done to private and police property. One of the children (aged between seven and twelve) said they rioted because they saw what Swilly (see above) had achieved (ie heavy grants, large-scale media coverage).

Another typical kind of fighting is that between estates. While this was tak­ing place between Mount Gould and Plymstock residents aged from seven to seventeen, police turned up to separate them and were immediately and spontan­eously attacked by both sides recognising the common enemy. They were petrol bombed and a cat and mouse situation

followed. Many young children were arrested. The Plymstock youth club was raided commando-style, with children and teenagers held against the wall, dogs used, etc. Local community (soft police) workers were shocked and changed their view of the police.

Plymouth's main night club (and consequently red light) area, Union Street, is the scene of frequently reported vio­lence (unlike the rest). Every Friday and Saturday at closing time (2.00 am) sailors and marines pour out of the clubs pissed to the eyeballs. Police are attacked fre­quently in this area and a favourite sport is that of 'turning the riot vans over'. Some of the riots in that area have been organised by local 'community activists'

Looting is becoming a frequent event, as is 'community shopping' -mass shop­lifting or daylight looting.

33

Breaking out of the Ghetto The struggles taking place in the inner city ghettos are often mis­understood as mindless violence. The young struggling against exclu­sion and boredom are advanced elements of the class clash. The ghetto walls must be broken down, not enclosed.

The young Palestinians throwing stones at the Israeli army rightly have the sympathy and solidarity of comrades who see them in their just struggle for freedom their colonial oppressors. When we see even the very young of Belfast throwing stones at British soldiers we have no doubt about their rebellion against the occupying army whose tanks and barbed wire enclose their ghettos.

There is an area of young people today however who find themselves in just as hard a battle against their oppress­ors who find themselves constantly emar­ginated and criminalised. These young people do not find themselves fighting a liberation struggle against an external invader, but are immersed in an internal class struggle that is so mystified that its

horizons are unclear even to themselves. This war is taking place within what have come to be known as the "inner cities" of Britain, areas that are now recognised by the class enemy-the capitalists, with the monarchy leading, and the State in all its forms-as the most fragile part of the class society, one that could open up the most gigantic crack and give way to unprecedented violence.

The young struggling for suivival from exclusion and boredom in the dead­ly atmosphere of the ghettos of the eighties are in fact among the most ad­vanced elements in the struggle in Britain. As such they find themselves surrounded by a sea of hostility and incomprehension, even by those who in terms of their official class positions should be their comrades in struggle. No trade union or left wing party has anything to say about their struggle. They are among the first to criminalise it and relegate its protagon­ists to the realm of social deviance, per­haps with the distinguishing variable that instead of the 'short sharp shock treat­ment' they prefer to employ an army of soft cops and social psychiatrists.

The anarchist movement itself, anti­authoritarian by definition and revolu­tionary in perspective, has so far produc­ed nothing tangible as a project of strug-

32

gle which encompasses the "real" anar­chists, the visceral antiauthoritarians. The forms the violence from the ghettos takes does not have the content of moral social activity that anarchists want to find. This cannot emerge spontaneously from situations of brute exploitation such as exist in the urban enclosures. Sugges­tions such as those of taking this morality into the ghettos which are then to be de­fended and "self-managed" in our opin­ion are quite out of place. They ring of the old "Takeover the City" slogans of Lotta Continua years ago, now just as dead as that organisation itself. The pro­blem is not self-managing the ghettos, but breaking them down. This can only come about through clear indications of a class nature, indicating objectives in that dimension and acting to extend the class attack.

The article by the Plymouth com­rades gives an indication of what is hap­pening in most major-and many smaller cities in Britain today. These events do not reach the headlines. In fact most of what happens is not reported at all.

Clearly the conditions of the clash are very different to those where the pre­sence of a tangible "outside enemy" has clarified the position of the whole of the exploited against the common enemy. There is no doubt in Sharpeville or Pales­tine or Belfast about what happens to those who collaborate with the police. In this country on the contrary, the fact that the latter have made inroads into gaining the active collaboration of people

within the ghettos themselves shows the barriers of fear and incomprehension that exist and divide the exploited in one area.

Levels of cultural and social mystifi• cation have succeeded to some extent in confusing class divisions. By defining the violence of the young in pathological or ethnic terms the latter find themselves isolated and ostracised even by those who are nearest to them in terms of exploita­tion.

The dividing line is a fine one, how­ever, and it can take only a mass con­frontation with the 'forces of order' to demonstrate to all where the real enemy lies. This happened in the Brixton riots for example where parents, seeing the police brutality at close hand, immediate­ly moved from a tacit consensus to open antagonism towards them.

Maintaining consensus from people who have very little to gain from the "so­cial order" involves a complex network of media, social workers, school teachers, community leaders, community police, etc, all of whom are recognised as being in positions of authority. That authority is tolerated unwillingly today. It could break down completely tomorrow.

Our work must therefore be in the direction of continually clarifying and ex­tending the class attack by identifying and striking objectives that are easily attainable and comprehensible in the per­spective of breaking down the walls of the ghettos and opening up a perspective of mass action against the common enemy. j.w.

Autonomous Base

Nucleus Mass structures, autonomous base nucleii are the element linking the specific informal anarchist organisation to social struggles.

Te autonomous base nucleus is notan entirely new form of struggle. At­tempts have been made to develop these structures in Italy over the past ten years. The most notable of these was the Auto­nomous Movement of the Turin Railway Workers(l), and the Self-managed Leagues against the cruise missile base in Comiso(2).

We believe the revolutionary struggle is without doubt a mass struggle. We therefore see the need to build structures capable of organising as many groups of exploited as possible.

We have always considered the syn­dicalist perspective critically both because of its limitations as an instrument, and because of its tragic historical involution that no anarchist lick of paint can cover up. So we reached the hypothesis of building autonomous base nucleii lacking the characteristics of mini-syndicalist structures, having other aims and organ­isational relations.

a considerable barrier of reticence and incomprehension has been met among comrades

Through these structures an attempt has been made to link the specific anar­chist movement to social struggles. A con­siderable barrier of reticence and incom­prehension has been met among comrades and this has been an obstacle in realising this organisational method. It is in mo­ments of action that differences emerge among comrades who all agree in prin­ciple with anarchist propaganda, the struggle against the State, self-management and direct action. When we move into an organisational phase, however, we must

develop a project that is in touch with the present level of the clash between classes.

We believe that due to profound social transformation it is unthinkable for one single structure to try to contain all social and economic struggle within it. In any case, why should the exploited have to enter and become part of a speci­fic anarchist organisation in order to carry out their struggle?

A radical change in the way society -exploitation-is being run can only beachieved by revolution. That is why weare trying to intervene with an insurrect­ional project. Struggles of tomorrow willonly have a positive outcome if the re­lationship between informal specificanarchist structure and the mass structureof autonomous base nucleii is clarifiedand put into effect.

The main aim of the nucleus is not to abolish the State or capital which are practicably unattackable so long as they remain a general concept. The objective of the nucleus is to fight and attack this

State and this Capital in their smaller and more attainable structures, having re­course to an insurrectional method.

The autonomous base groups are mass structures and constitute the point of encounter between the informal anar­chist organisation and social struggles.

The organisation within the nucleus distinguishes itself by the following characteristics: a) autonomy from any political, tradeunion or syndical force;b) permanent conflictuality (a constantand effective struggle towards the aimsthat are decided upon, not sporadic occa­sional interventions);c) attack (the refusal of compromise,mediation or accomodation that ques­tions the attack on the chosen objective).

As far as aims are concerned, these are decided upon and realised through attacks upon the repressive, military and

(1) See 'Workers' Autonomy' (Bratach Dubh); (2) See 'Insurrection No o

productive structures, etc. The import­ance of permanent conflictuality and attack is fundamental.

These attacks are organised by the nucleii in collaboration with specific anar­chist structures which provide practical and theoretical support, developing the search for the means required for the ac-

the objective of the nucleus is to fight and attack this State and this Capital in their smaller and more attainable struc­tures

tion, pointing out the structures and indi­viduals responsible for repression, and offering a minimum of defence against attempts at political or ideological recup­eration by power or against repression pure and simple.

At first sight the relationship be­tween specific anarchist organisation and autonomous base nucleus might seem contradictory. The specific structure follows an insurrectional perspective, while the base nucleii seem to be in quite another dimension, that of intermediate struggle. But this struggle only remains such at the beginning. If the analysis on which the project is based coincides with the interests of the exploited in the situa­tion in which they find themselves, then an insurrectional outcome to the struggle is possible. Of course this outcome is not certain. That cannot be guaranteed by anyone.

This method has been accused of being incomplete and of not taking into account the fact that an attack against one or more structures always ends up in-creasing repression. Comrades can reflect on these accusations. We think it is never possible to see the outcome of a struggle in advance. Even a limited struggle can have the most unexpected consequences. And in any case, the passage from the various insurrections-limited and circum­scribed- to revolution can never be gua­ranteed in advance by any procedure. We

go forward by trial and error, and say to whoever has a better method-carry on.

o.v.9

The Informal Organisation The informal anarchist organisation has nothing to do with programmes, platforms or flags but is

based on a common affinity beween comrades whose ojective is to intervene in struggles in an

insurretional direction. In that way it is possible to be present in and heighten the class struggle.

Anarchist groups and individuals are often spread over the territory with little contact between them and few ideas on methods and possibilities of interven­tion in social reality.

There is a certain presence in some areas, especially of a syndicalist nature. In others there is action against nuclear in­stallations. The widest area of interven­tion is that of counter-information and propaganda.

An anarchist movement that is really

active and incisive needs two main fac­tors: an agile and effective instrument and an objective that is sufficiently clear in perspective.

We think the informal organisation and insurrection are the concrete possibil­ities that present themselves at the pres­ent time.

It has already been said that the organisation of synthesis, based on the congress and political programme, is a structure that because of its internal characteristics and the mechanisms that support it, cannot be a valid instrument for comrades wanting to move in an in­surrectional perspective. Political

J

grammes and platforms are organisation­al models which, from an insurrectional point of view, have seen their day.

One thing that is indispensable in the informal anarchist organisation is recipro­cal knowledge between members. This and affinity among comrades is what characterises the informal form of organ­isation.

We have all reached anarchist posi­tions through time, maturing certain con­victions concerning social problems.We also have some idea of how to intervene in social reality and the relative strategic choices to be made. Well, let us go into these problems, ascertain whether we agree on certain points, show each other how we think.

Certainly, it is not easy. It is never­theless indispensable to confront one another. Without this no kind of inform­al structure or informal relationship is possible.

The informal proposal does not mean one has to agree on every single problem that arises. Affinity does not possess a uniform level of intensity. Knowledge of

another is an infinite process that reaches greater or lesser depth according to the circumstances and the objectives one is trying to reach.

The basic project of an informal anarchist organisation has, in our opinion, the objective of intervening in struggles in an insurrectional logic. This organisa­tion does not give one area privilege over another, does not have a stable centrality. It singles out an objective which at a given moment presents a particularly acute area of social conflict and works in a perspective of insurrection.

The debate is open on this point.

Criticisms that insurrection is not a valid proposal today, somethimes confuse insurrection with the old "propaganda by the deed". On the contrary we think that the insurrectional project gives itself the aim of attacking power in each one of its manifestations by the stimulation of the anarchist informal organisation, but

always with mass participation, showing in deed the possibility and validity of such attacks

In that way it is possible to be pre­sent in the class struggle and heighten the level of it.

We see the informal organisation therefore as a number of comrades linked by a common affinity. The wider the range of problems these comrades face as a whole, the greater their affinity will be. It follows that the real organisation, the effective capacity to act together, ie knowing where to find each other, the study and analysis of problems together, and the passing to action, all takes place in relation to the affinity reached and has nothing to do with programmes, plat­forms, flags or more or less camouflaged parties. The informal anarchist organisa-

Who says you can die for a State at the age of.twelve? Who believes. that behind the stones thrown and the bottles launched against the Israeli soldiers there is the desire to see oneself represented in a Parliament of Palestinian politicians? Who has an interest in making us believe that the objective of this insurrection is that of substituting the bible-thumping baton wielders with those with the Koran: the double-breasted bosses with those in kaftans? What is the real reason for the goading reports that the radio, TV and newspapers are reserving for the events taking place in the Gaza 'strip'? The same attention reserved to the Iran-Iraq war-when th,e dead were hundreds each day. Or when the Italian fleet was heading in that direction? A true bombardment of news. all filtered how­ever through "common sense". The journalists are always ready to condemn excess on one side or the other. Always ready to exalt any diplomatic solution that putsthings in a democratic framework. Always ready to erase; deny, any hypothesis that goes against the present state of affairs, In South Africa. the. strikes in the mines or the revolts· in ·the ghettos, in tliefr reporting is always inspired by unions ot be-:­

cause of the colour of their skins. We never got news from Iran and Irak of all the proletarians on each side who were hanged because th,ey refused to fight in a war they did not feel a part of. The solution of the "Palestinian problem" is to be found in the recognition of the inalienable right to a State led (naturally) by the PW.

No,

No, we don't agree, we don't believe anything any more! Whoever comes out into the streets in the occupied territories of Israel as in South Africa, does it to rebel against the material conditions that capital imposes on their lives. Conditions that in order to be reproduced require social peace, the elimination of any conflictuality that is not symbolic. But we are not interested in symbols. We know perfectly well that the system of capital is our enemy and survives thanks to men who are quite identifiable and to precise structures such as the banks. These are the final links of a chain that supports the continua­tion of oppression and exploitation. It does so with precise instruments (such as the International Monetary Fund) that organise exchange of goods and the subsequent starving of entire peoples. Only if it is carried to within the class struggle will the struggle of the Palestinians be our struggle. Leoncavallo Social Centre, Milan

Leaflet giuen during a blockade of the "Cariplo., agency in.Milan on January 29 in solidarity with the Palestinians in struggle.

31

The Struggf; . ··c;<it:;:. ....

. . ....

The cultural stereo-type presented by the media in past years of the "Palestin­ian-Arab terrorist'i has miserably crumbl­ed over the past months. The true and

"' ,only terrorists, even to the most politi.: cally naive eyes, are the officers· of the lsraeili army who are ordering their soldiers to turn their guns on young people whose only arms are sticks and stones.

It is striking to see the victims ofso many massacres carried out in their time by the Nazis, in the reversed role of per­secutors and racist exterminators of an­other people.

Certainly this is not something re­cent, but it seems that the world has only become aware of it now.

Now We have before our eyes the vision of a Hebrew colony which, coming from the United States or elsewhere, has invaded the land of the Palestinian poor, suing the organised force of their ariny, one of the most equipped and militarily prepared in the world, to chase. them out. of their homes. The numerous acts ofvfo:. lence addressed against this people-ig-

norant of history and divine intentions­by the Israelis brandishing a gun in one hand and a Bible in the other, are toin­form the former that this is land· pro� mised by God and anyone wh<l is not prepared to leave it voluntarily can in.His name be chased of with iron and fire.

In this way the Palestinians, yictims · of s11ch Zionist logic, have for their in­vaders done the· wrong of living for

. over

tWo thousand years in that territory. '}'lie powers who �aine through the Second World War as victors constituted the Israeli Sta'te . which, by a macabre ir6ny the Hebre�sJ>We to their holocaust in the Nazi COil®11ttation camps. and Jts .· exist-­ence tod:1y\is made possible by the. campsbuilttolc���'the Palestinians in •. ··

�t�ad of fighting to affirm the ireedr�., �ocial equality and sense· of jus� tice .among J,Ue�, . Jewish communities in o.ther . countries (apart from the dissent

, \, ' ' \ ' C

30

<als who haye Aell{ : .· · ... · . . .· ..

... . ·· > taijpg pl�)

hayeJi}\<>seii;!� sup��tf µfts tacis(society . . .. ..tef1t�fr �Jo}!gs. to their own

•. �t.r.·.·.ilin.> ···· · ··.� cli.or.dwi ... �

llie Hi'tlerian . . ••. ·.•.. . . . . . . st the ethnic111in�rlties in ordefto save and purify the ·. Ari.µi �ce. Such is. happl:lning in Pales-tin¢t"6day.. . t:L 1'h� young . pev ... rebelling in Jhe camps. "6f Gaza. • ..

···..•. )J6(d�ia to4ay

were all born un��1\I�,iii,li �ceupa�<>11� Th.eir oppres�ots<.md t�tfllte�h!ldillu�et themselves that aftethavillg chase� �e PLOmilitantsawayJt.h�di�9�she<l'�­temal resiste.nce. Twenty o�e ye� �f military . occupation and �liJni��ti® ;r.these territories should . have ,e,ased �y trace whatsoever of tlif old ecpnoi)li�tand . sodal co.llfol'Illation of the arearand the

:Isi;aeliJ;.��i'e;f9,µq�11e/>11 .. the· fact .•. that

this . . . ��ia�9�i;pf Pal�s�nians lwl'.11@�r . · .. ',ta�>�o�11ation wouldnot 1t�f!;��l�llllle m9tiy�s as thei.l' fathers to reb:et···

.n \V�in()t like that. In past months all 1ll�io11t of social pacification have <lir�f()!sthelsraeli State, and the Zionist ��eam ofsocfo:lmlitical integration of the O�fupief territories. is. disappearing. On �he • ofiter hand "th6: weight . of the PLO inside the. Pale�tinian camps is no longer \Vhat it was .. Now most of its militants lia.ve been living in exile in nations terri­foii.ally' far .away from the area. The tevolt;-0f the ¥oung was born spontan­�ousli, m:>t. organised by political organis­titiOJtS, �o Jhe PLOis doin� everything it can the� �ays to recuperate it.

./Fht)'9u11g Palestinians no longer be­li�fe � the P.olitics of diplomacy acted '?�!1>Y �¥ft! nor do they believe thatit ·is eo ·" · .cyt:,:y out some armed action J ·.. , .. > .... lsrae� State outside the�CUJli�(.�pitories. They mean-as they

·.· �l:e ;�e�<>llStrating-,-to radicalise the

.vi<>l��f .socfal cl�h precisely in the ter�toties .•�•• �hich they are living. In this

·��se ,fb.ei.a;� showing a social insurrect­ionalist pr�tlce that is. far more danger-

/$ ... . . < i ·•n. • . .. • .. >< � ·.� - · C> . ;•.,... <· ···.·•·••s·····•···••=•··---·-•=•-:,-4,c-;..z<c0e,c·•-· -·•·--°"�•=••••••••.cc.•.• -.--.�-�-,c-C...CC••·---,c.-,'°=--c���--=-----·.•.- .- --�·�

},r:l�#· .. ····•ci

<iI\- ·· ousif �rt.l)ti �tm>fl1ty of the Israeli State �· fhl} st��s • which, although they o�!��COfi�mic danlage, do not worry itin' 'ffi�. Sllill{WflY, 'l'hre,tening . the·.Pales­. fuli� w<>tkerf with hunger or mass sack­ingsJ1as been a tactic that has always w<>rked up . till now.

z� t}le. same, although the PLO has • · · i;\Veakened, the same cannot q;�.ihe islamic religion which P:t �t�11gthening itself behind ol'the:conflict.

; . . . . • �� '. illt�inal danger for the YQt,tng,PalesWrlaus-� precisely that of the taking root9f isl�c integralism within the}r ranks, shown ;by the fact that the religious caste has, · for its own ends of power, unconditionally supported the re� volt Th: Pale�tinian worthies . are not

o,llt �to the streets but they are aitillg like vultures. to take the

place:-ofthe Israelis. ,A dark shadow .falls over the libera­

tiori:struggle that is taking place today by the,�alestinian people in revolt. It is the will 'to form a new State either secular or �ligious depen.ding on the forces that pretAA·

"7hat is to· be hoped therefore is that the bed clash . in this insurrectionalist DlOV'erilent should deepen in such a way that �e question does not simply con­cern'. itself with the institution of a new State but. of going beyond such a miser­able political horizon and \\ith it the re.­prodttc1ion of capitalist modes of produc­tion.

tne·young Palestinians, acting direct­ly without leaders, self-managing· their struggle, could in fact take this road, utopian as it might seem, having already put the old PLO leader Arafat in crisis, (To a journalist interviewing him, asking wht> was their "leader'', a Palestinian boy replied, "Whoever has a stone in hishan4'').

Bµt now they must also put the Ayll.tbllah of fundamentalist Islam in crlsi$ to widen their horizons of real liberitiion, p. p.

tion is therefore a specific organisation which gathers around a common affinity.

The base structures have a single ob­jective. When this objective has been reached, or the attempt fails, the struc­ture either widens into a situation of generalised insurrection, or dismantles as the case may be.

Undoubtedly it will tend towards a growth in numbers, but this is not the main aim of activity. As the organism born in this way develops it will give it­self common means of intervention. First of all an instrument of debate necessary for analylitical examination, such as a paper or review, capable of supplying indications on a wide range of problems and of becoming a point of reference for continually verifying affinity or diver­gence of opinion between groups and individual comrades.

Secondly these specific groups can also form base structures involving the exploited in specific areas of struggle, not as an element of growth in the speci-

fie movement. In this optic it becomes dispersive to give life to a permanent structure to confront specific problems.

It should be stressed here that al­though the element holding the informal organisation together is undoubtedly affinity, its propulsive element is always action. If it limits itself to the first alone, all relationships will become arid in the bizantian perfectionism of whoever has nothing better to do that try to hide one's will to do nothing.

The problems that have been touched on here deserve more going into and we invite all comrades to take part in a discussion of them. g.c.

Repression against the Anarchist Movement in Greece

The Greek Home Minister has unleashed a vast terroristic operation against the anarchist movement following a series of proletarian attacks in Athens protesting against police brutality.

The Minister has made statements to the effect thatclandestine armed groups operating in Greece must be dis­mantled. This is aimed at creating a climate of social tension to justify the State's repressive projects against the revolutionary movement.

To this avail the State has used the bourgeois press tomanipulate public opinion, circulating false news criminalis­ing the anarchist movement and, more specifically, the newly-formed Greek Anarchist Union.

This repressive scenario consists in trying to present the Anarchist Union-formed during the first Pan-Hellenic Anar­chist Conference held in Athens in May this year-as a deci­sion-making and operational centre for all the autonomous actions of proletarian attack against repression recently carried out in Greece.

The Greek anarchist movement is mobilising in protest against this repressive manipulation with actions of counter­information at public level.

But the arrest of two anarchist comrades, Clearchos Shimeos and Christoforos Marinos in a stolen car in Athens, and the killing of comrade Michalis Prekas by the police, have supplied the forces of repression ,vith a further alibi for intensifying their attack against the movement. Two more comrades, Evangelia Voghiatei and Gerasimos Boukouvalas, have now been arrested, the latter belonging to the Greek Anarchist Union.

The Greek anarchist movement is now organising to defend its arrested militants politically. They are accused of belonging to an armed group, theft and illegal possession of firearms. These accusations are based exclusively on the State's need to justify and further intensify its preceeding re­pressive scenario.

The defence of the comrades now being organised by the Greek anarchist movement is not based on the guilty/inno­cent logic, but supports the revolutionary integrity and iden­tity of the arrested comrades, independently of the accusa­tions made by the repressive organs of the State.

We ask for the active solidarity of the whole internation­al anarchist movement m our struggle against the State and capitalist domination and exploitation which is striking us particularly at this time.

Some comrades of the Greek Anarchist Union

11

jt

~,sti'ilcei. ra<Siim again

The Affinity Group Contrary to what is often believed, affinity between comrades does not depend on sympathy or sentiment. To have affinity means to have knowledge of the o ther, to know how they think on social issues and how they think they can intervene in the social clash. This deepening of knowledge between comrades is an aspect that is often neglected, impeding effective action.

0n, of the most difficult pm· blems anarchists have had to face through­out their history is what form of organ­isation to adopt in the struggle.

At the two ends of the spectrum we find on the one hand the individualists who refuse any kind of stable relationship; on the other those who support a perma­nent organisation which acts on a pro­gramme established at the moment of its constitution.

Both of the forms sketched out here have characteristics that are criticis­able from an insurrectional point of view.

In fact, when individualists single out and strike the class enemy they are sometimes far ahead of the most comba­tive of the class components of the time, and their action is not understood. On the contrary, those who support the need for a permanent organisation often wait until there is already a considerable num­ber of exploited indicating how and when to strike the class enemy. The former carry out actions that turn out to be too far ahead of the level of the struggle, the latter too far behind.

12

One of the reasons for this defi­ciency is in our opinion lack of perspec­tive.

Clearly no one has a sure recipe that contains no defects: we can however point out the limitations we see in cer­tain kinds of organisation, and indicate possible alternatives.

One of these is known as "affinity groups".

The term requires an explanation.

Affinity is often confused with senti­ment. Although not distinctly separate, the two terms should not be considered synonymous. There could be comrades with whom we consider we have an affinity, but whom we do not find sym­pathetic and vice versa.

Basically, to have an affinity with a comrade means to Rnow them, to have deepened one's knowledge of them. As that knowledge grows, the affinity can increase to the point of making an action together possible; but it can also diminish to the point of making it practically im­possible.

Knowledge of another is an in-

finite process which can stop at any level according to the circumstances and objec­tives one wants to reach together. One could therefore have an affinity for doing some things and not others. It becomes obvious that when one speaks of know­ledge that does not mean it is necessary to discuss one's personal problems, al­though these can become importanrwhen they interfere with the process of deepen­ing knowledge of one another.

In this sense having knowledge of the other does not necessarily mean hav­ing an intimate relationship. What it is necessary to know is how the comrade thinks concerning the social problems which the class struggle confronts him with, how he thinks he can intervene, what methods he thinks should be used in given situations, etc.

The first step in the deepening of knowledge between comrades is discus­sion. It is preferable to have a clarifying premiss, such as something written, so the various problems can be gone into well.

Once the essentials are clarified the affinity group or groups are practical­ly formed. The deepening of knowledge between comrades continues in relation to their action as a group and the latter's encounter with reality as a whole. While this process is taking place their know­ledge often widens and strong bonds be­tween comrades often emerge. This how­ever is a consequence of the affinity, not its primal aim.

It often happens that comrades go about things the other way round, begin­ning some kind of activity and only pro­ceeding to the necessary clarifications later, without ever having assessed the level of affinity required to do anything together. Things are left to chance, as though some kind of clarity were auto­matically to emerge from the group simply by its formation. Of course this does not happen: the group either stag­nates because there is no clear road for it to take, or it follows the tendency of the comrade or comrades who have the clear­est ideas as to what they want to do while others allow themselves to be pulled along, often with little enthusiasm or real engagement.

The affmi ty group on the other hand finds it has great potential and is immediately addressed towards action, basing itself not on the quantity of its adherents, but on the qualitative strength of a number of individuals working to­gether in a pr.ojectuality that they deve­lop together as they go along. From being a · specific structure of the anarchist movement and the whole arc of activity that this presents-propaganda, direct action, perhaps producing a paper, work­ing within an informal organisation-it can also look outwards to forming a base nucleus or some other mass structure and thus intervene more effectively in the social clash. o.v.

The

uc ear

Much is being said in the Press about bribery and corruption within the Mol nuclear processing plant in Belgium where 321 barrels of plutonium bearing waste material was illegally shipped to plants in West Germany by the Gennan transport firm Transnuklear. The extracted pluton­ium is then secretly shipped to Pakistan for nuclear arms productipn.

Meanwhile, the great legal internation­al nuclear mafia continues its world-wide trafficking undisturbed. British Nuclear Fuels regularly imports huge amounts of

uranium from South Africa unhindered by such legal niceties as EEC or Common­wealth trade restrictions. Last year of the 1,000 tonnes of unprocessed uranium im­ported from South Africa, 20 tonnes came to Britain. Processed-probably at Spring­fields, Preston-it was then exported to "overseas customers".

In fact, the whole nuclear industry, using the "terrorist threat" as justifica­tion for secrecy and policing by special forces, is based on lies, cover-ups, falsify­ing reports, secret deals, threats, black­mail, murder, genocide.

Protection money, not extracted at the barrel of a gun, but through the legal taxation system under threat of impris­onment, is paid by the mass of exploited to subsidise the production of a whole arsenal of (secret) weaponry and reac­tors many of which are now dangerously redundant but kept functioning. For example the ones at Chapel Cross, Dum­frieshire and Calder Hall, Sellafield are now 12 years over their 20 year "safety" limit. They supply plutonium for the Trident and nuclear weapons programme, so attempts to have them shut down be­cause of their incapacity to withstand

even a minor earth tremor, have been waived.

Llttle distinction can be made in fact between "military" and "civil" nuc­lear plants as the latters' waste products produce material for nuclear bombs. For example "spent fuel"-still radio­active-from Dungeness on the Kent coast is transported by train through South London regularly in 44 tonne flasks hold­ing more radioactivity than the Hiroshima bomb, to Sellafield where plutonium is tracted from it to make nuclear weapons. However, the so-called civil area of nuclear power production is about to undergo partial privatisation. And the 12 area electricity boards to be privatised are each to be "obliged" (in true mafia style) to ensure that 20% of their power is not of fossil origin, ie will be mainly nuclear. The high costs of maintaining even offi­cial safety standards is so high that it is to be expected that even more cover-ups will take place in the future. It was engineers employed at Trwsfyndd power station in Snowdonia who informed the public of their fears concerning secret cooling tests that were being planned and the danger they would have put the local population in. People in the area were ready to evac­uate their children before the tests were finally abandoned due to local and in­ternational pressure.

•

a 1a

Apart from the megaplants that are an ever increasing threat to surrounding populations (and beyond, as Chernobyl has shown), there are 1,000 authorised nuclear dumping sites in Britain, and 6,000 sites where it is legally permitted to handle and store radioactive waste. These sites are all protected by the secrecy of the Radioactive Substances Act 1960, where any disclosure of information is punishable by imprisonment.

British Telecom are storing radio­active tritium gas (from the dials of some of the 2 million luminous telephone dials they are dismantling) in leaky containers in a disused car park in lslwyn, Wales. They plan to store between 200,000 and 400,000 curies of tritium gas at the site in Cwmcarn. This substance is easily absorb­ed into the human body. One curie is sufficient to kill.

"Cancer clusters", child leukemia, the near accidents, accidents and poten­tial accidents are ignored by these mafiosi whose only aim is profit and an ever in­creasing control of the population. The gang is a tight collaboration of Capital, both public and private, and the State, in the form of judiciary, police, secret ser­vices, government, army, etc. These are all structures that are quite identifiable and composed of individuals each one of whom is responsible in one way or an­other for this project of death.

The struggle against the nuclear pro­ject must therefore widen into a global attack against all these structures of dominion by developing the practice of direct action and constant conflictuality in a logic that goes towards mass rebel­lion. Anything less merely serves to give credibility to the assassins. j.w.

29

One of the most disputed principles of the anarchist struggle is that of seeing the possibility for developing a revolu­tionary dimension within the national one.

This problem gives rise to much fear and incomprehension.

It is said that anarchism, being internationalist, should not concern it­self with events related to situations within single nations. The clash between classes puts all proletarians on the same level against the exploiters, so one part cannot be extracted from the social war and restricted to within a single terri­tory or nation.

Other dangers are listed with refer­ence to specific historical situations: dangers of involution, of transforming the national liberation struggle into a florid new nationalism or of giving the local bourgeoisie preference over the foreign one. And many other arguments which to tell the truth are not always serene or well thought out.

Many comrades have not thought sufficiently about this thorny problem. They express judgements based on pre­conceived ideas, not on an evaluation of the limits or possibilities of a struggle for national liberation carried out by anarchists and laid out on anarchist principles.

As the idea of revolution breaking out all over the planet at the same time is unthinkable, it should not be impos­sible to envisage a breakout of revolu.t­tionary events in one specific place at a time. Now if this is reasonable enough one must admit then that a correct anar­chist analysis applied to the main areas of tension would lead to the possibility of intervening in an organised and stra­tegically clear way.

Certain situations exist in the world today that present contradictions of a predominantly national kind. Why is it that anarchists must stay out­side them? Perhaps because recent ex­perience has shown that these situations often have reactionary outcomes? Or because nearly all of them are dominat­ed by marxist positions? These are not good enough reasons. One could reply to the first that there is no such situa­tion as one that can guarantee a re­volutionary or progressive outcome in advance, but rather that such an out­come would be more probable in the presence of anarchists and their struggle. To the second one could say that the re­lationship between marxism and the na­tional liberation struggle is purely instru­mental. That is, the people in struggle have adopted-especially in Africa and South America-certain marxist ele-28

National Liberation Struggle We must get out of the contradictions and ambiguities that anarchists find themselves in when considering the problem of the national libera­tion struggle. A proposal for an international anarchist confederation for national liberation.

ments as they have nothing else at their disposition. And is this not perhaps the fault of the anarchists?

We are therefore for intervention in the various national liberation struggles. Not just a general one of solidarity or, worse still, that of systematically draw­ing political distinctions. We are for an active intervention.

By active intervention we mean not only "real" international solidarity con-

sisting of attacking the common enemy; but also an intervention based on ana­lysis and organisational proposals.

One of the proposals that seems right at the present time and which could become a point of reference in the future, is that of forming an Inter­national Confederation for National liberation, accepting the distinguishing factor of the insurrectional method and the refusal of interclassism.

A CONSIDERABLE PART OF

THE ANARCHIST MOVEMENT

SHARES INSURRECTION AL POSITIONS, BUT THEY ARE

THEORETICAL ST ANDS ONLY. WE TillNK THAT A NEW WAY

TO CONSIDER INSURRECTION IS POSSIBLE.

apart from a few not very significantfringes, the international anarchist movement shares theoretical positions of a revolutionary character. The liberal­democratic vein, important as far as it shows a possible line of involution, re­mains on the margins.

In tum almost the whole of the re­volutionary anarchist positions-with diff­erent nuances-see insurrection as a ne­cessary phase along the road to revolution.

But this insurrection is seen as a mass revolt due to certain socio-economic forces that serve to set it off. The role of the anarchist movement is to limit it­self to understanding these conditions and economic and social contradictions to make them more comprehensible to the mass. Basically, a role of propaganda and counterinformation.

Often even the anarchist comrades who see the need for violent struggle against the structures of oppression with­out half measures, limit themselves to this part of the analysis and do not feel oblig­ed to go any further. The mass-they say-must do everything themselves. Any­thing else would be authoritarian on the part of the specific anarchist organisation and could tum out to be disastrous.

This idea of insurrection might have been logical when nearly the whole of the anarchist movement was on positions of synthesis, ie in the dimension of the big (or not so big) quantitative organisations. Through the instrument of the syndicalist organisation they planned to address the whole of the social and economic strug­gles into a situation of waiting for a breaking out of the revolutionary mo­ment.

There is a different way to envisage revolutionary struggle in an insurrection­alist key in our opinion.

We consider that the anarchist organ­isation, so long as it is informal, can con­tribute to the constitution of autono­mous base nucleii which, as mass organ­isms, can programme attacks against structures of social, economic and mili­tary repression. These attacks, even if

circumscribed, have all the methodolo-

• •

1nsurrect1on gical characteristics and practises of insurrectional phenomena when not left to the blind forces of social and eco­nomic conflict but are brought into an anarchist projectuality based on the principles of autonomy, direct action

constant attack and the refusal to com­promise.

In a word, this is the insurrectionalconception that we are inviting all com­rades interested to assess with critiques,analysis and debate. a.m.b.

13

INTERNATIONALISM the struggle alongside the exploited of the world cannot simply be

reduced to collecting signatures or to counterinformation it must complete itself with an attack against those responsible

-internal and external-for exploitation

A restricted view of the struggle is doomed to failure. If not in tenns of immediate results (improved conditions, growth of revolutionary consciousness, development of the movement, etc) at least in the long tenn modifying of power relations.

The revolutionary struggle is "total". It involves the possibility of life for the exploited in all the different parts of the world, hence the need for the "total" in­tervention of the revolutionary even when operating in a circumscribed and therefore "immediate" struggle.

But this interest cannot limit ittelf to simply reading the newspapers and keeping oneself informed on what is happening in the world. It must go a little (or a lot) further than that.

Proletarian internationalism is an active intervention, a participation in the struggles of the exploited that extends everywhere.

But there is a mistaken way of con­sidering this basic revolutionary perspec­tive. It was applied by the authoritarian parts of the movement in the seventies with disastrous results. This mistake has mechanical characteristics and consists of taking what one considers to be the high­est point of the clash (ie the situation of peoples in the third world) where so­cial and economic conflicts are more obvious, and carrying them-as a strategic and methodological proposal-to within the situation of the more advanced coun­tries (the so-called metropolitan situa­tions). In the past one heard of bringing

Vietnam to Berlin or London or Milan. The mistake was in sanctifying the open armed clash unreservedly and in trans­ferring these aspects to situations which had, and still have very different char­acteristics.

But in practice it was not a question of real proletarian internationalism. The far-off situation was seen as an occasion for pushing the local situation. The trans­feral en bloc of the methods and slogans was done with a view to obtaining sym­pathy and propaganda on the wave of results that the struggle of those far-off peoples were achieving.

We consider that today more than ever real proletarian internationalism can go towards one of two solutions. Firstly, the classical one which is spoken about less and less now and has come to be seen only through the distorting lense of a now out-dated romanticism, is that of direct participation through inter­nationalist groups or brigades. A lot could be said on the subject which we shall put off until some future date where it can be gone into in more detail among comrades.

Alternatively there is the other aspect, that of real "support" to the internationalist struggle.

It should be said that this support cannot be reduced to a simple subscrip­tion. Even if very useful, it is certainly not the first thing that the exploited en­gaged in a struggle expect. There is also the so-called "political" support, ie counter-information, demonstrations, picketing of consulates and embassies, letters of protest. All very useful things.

And then there is the attack against those responsible for exploitation. Both internally and externally. Without want­ing to give this aspect privilege over all the others, we must say-very clearly­that to do only the first means render­ing such activity ineffective. It means re­ducing the manifestation of thought and opinion to a banal exercise of demo­cratic dissent. It means the transforma­tion of financial support into an act of charity which is mainly an alibi for one­self. To do the two things together has a more serious significance and corres­ponds to what we consider to be true pro­letarian internationalism. a.m.b.

Simply spreading facts that have been distorted or concealed by the insti­tutional information system constitutes an "illegal" action. Not against one pre­cise law (except in the case of the so­called 'State-secret'), but something that goes against the management of social control on which the State's very possibi­lity of having its laws respected is based.

A wide area of behaviour exists therefore that attracts the attention of the State's repressive organs just as much if not more than that which clearly breaks a specific law.

It can be extremely damaging to the project of State control for certain news to be in circulation at a given moment, at least as damaging as actions falling into the "illegal" category.

This shows that the line between "formal" legality and that of "real" legal-

ity fluctuates according to the repressive projects being put into action.

It varies according to the relationship between State and capital at a given time, and this is established less through re­course to precise laws than through a myriad of controls and dissuasions that only evolve into actual repressive actions in specific cases.

Relation between politics and illegality

Basically all political critique remains within the field of illegality. In fact it bol­sters the social fabric and allows it to overcome certain defects and deficien-cies caused by capital's contradictions and some excessively rigid aspects of the State.

But no political critique can reach the total negation of State and capital. If

it did it would become a social critique­as in the case of anarchist critiques-and would cease to be a constructive contri­bution to the institutional fabric, and so becomes "illegal".

Periods of institutional and social equilibrium can exist that allow the exist­ence of a social critique of a radically anarchist nature, but that does not alter the substantially "illegal" character of this critique.

On the other hand, even behaviour that comes heavily under the jurisdiction of the penal code can be considered diff­erently in the light of a relationship of a political kind. For example, the armed struggle of a combatant party is un­doubtedly an illegal action in the formal sense of the word, but at a given moment it ·can become functional to the State and capital's projects of recuperation and re­structuring. Here it ensues that a possible agreement between combatant party and State is not impossible.

This is not as absurd as it seems. The combatant party puts itself within the logic of destabilising the existing ruling power for the construction of a future power that is different in form but iden­tical in substance.

In this project, as soon as it is realis­ed that there is no outlet for a military · confrontation they make a deal. The amnesty that is being talked about so much in Italy today with the Red Bri­gades is one such deal.

As we can see, while simple anarchist critique-radical and total in content-al­ways remains "illegal", even the armed struggle of the combatant parties can at a given moment enter the domain of "le­gality". That clearly demonstrates the "fluctuating" nature of legality and the State's capacity to adapt this to levels of social control.

The exercise of control

The instruments of repression only use brute force minimally. They function to a far greater extent as instruments of social control preventively.

This is applied through a series of provisions for all the forms of potential illegality and deviant behaviour. Potential illegality comes within the law today, but the farseeing eye of the censor looks ahead to foresee their possible outcome. In the same way social deviance today might be a possible object of study or sur­prise, tomorrow it could become a con­crete manifestation of social subversion.

a.m.b.

27

A collection of communiques, leaflets and analyses from the anti­nuclear struggle developing informally in Italy in the logic of direct action against the military and civil structures responsible for the nuclear project.

On October 10 1986 anarchist and autonomous demon­strators destroy a large part of the structures (bulldozers, excav­ators and drilling machinery on the building site of the nuclear plant under construction at Trina Vercellese.

On December 9 autonomists and anarchists demonstrate against the nuclear power station of Montalto di Castro by blocking entrance to the plant.

In Segrate, Milan, on February 18 the research centre CISE involved in laser research finds its gates chained shut, leaflet found saying: "sabotage the research centres, universities, death production".

16

1986

To limit the antinuclear struggle to demanding the closure of the electronuclear plants that are functioning or to preventing those under construction from being built, does not even scratch the surface of the development of atom technology. The antinuclear argument has mainly limited itself to detail up till now. Its main arguments have been superficial, based mainly on underlining the risks of the civil use of the atom from the biological and ecological points of view, or to criticising it from an economic point of view be­cause it is unproductive. A social analysis of the problem has remained in the shadows or been treated only marginally. This is the aspect on which we mean to centre our attention.

Now that the myth of neutrality of science and scientific research has collapsed one can clearly see the farmer's rela­tionship with the structures of Power.

... The antagonist movement must take account of this situation in order to develop an opposition to the nuclear project that is autonomous and radical.

It is not enough to denounce the role of the false oppos­ition of the institutional forces, the denunciation should also be extended to the soft opposition that cannot be directly framed within the institutional level (greens, environmental­ists, pacifists, antimilitarists, religious protestors, etc) who in their practical proposals for struggle do not question the re­lationship with domination at all. On the contrary the ac­tions of the former tum out to be functional to reforming the very relationships with domination because they pro­pose a better administrative management through the constitution of new institutions at local level.

In proposing the closure of the nuclear power stations, the fictitious opposition to nuclear power goes towards eli­minating the most obvious contradictions through the con­stitution of alternative energy sources. This critique remains at the level of the single aspect, glosses over the real problem, which remains that of the interests of Power that are at the base of the expansion of the nuclear project ... Once freed from the most obvious contradictions of the electronuclear plants, nuclear research could carry on its role peacefully and could also adopt new ones. The industries producing this technology of death could, in absolute silence, continue to produce and export to the developing countries. This project would guarantee the countries exporting nuclear technology total control over the countries acquiring it. In tum the re­gimes of these countries could have an enforced industrial­isation with the instoration of centralised and authoritarian systems of development which could not fail to base them­selves on a militaristic logic, which would use the nuclear availability as blackmail at an internal level against the popu­lation, in view of possible breaking out of social rebellion.

In tum, within the producing countries, the very exist­ence of atomic technology, under the claim of security, would lead to the need for an army of overseers. This army, once it has become aware of its own importance and role, could use itself as a threat to blackmail the population, who would then find themselves under regimes far more authori­tarian than the present.

Biological and ecological destruction appears at this point as an effect and not the real cause. This must be found in the project of control and forced consensus that such technology makes possible. In fact such technology could extend the power of the sacerdotal caste of the scientists who would no longer simply have laboratories as their field of action, but society itself, unsuspecting population includ­ed.

For these reasons it is necessary to risk everything today either for man's complete liberation or his total subjection. Any appeal to humanitarianism or pacifism obscures this point of departure. ProvocAzione

Two years on from the Chernobyl tragedy all the power games on the atom front in Italy are over.

Following last year's referendum consultations where the majority of the population expressed themselves as being against nuclear energy, the spectacle is over.

The parliamentophile toxic cloud formed within the antinuclear movement seems to have dissipated, its main pro­tagonists finally throwing away the mask of false opposition, declaring themselves satisfied with the decisions just made by the new De Mita government. The latter as a first act has de­cided not to continue completion of the work on the electro­nuclear power station at Montalto di Castro(VT), in spite of the ''go ahead" given by the TAR of Lazio with the sentence of April 13 1988, and industry Minister Battaglia has communicated such a decision to the ENEL in a letter say­ing: "The line on which the government is constituted is that of the non completion of the nuclear centres" .

It is in actual fact a peremptory invitation to the ENEL to wait until the Cabinet expresses itself concerning the pro­ject of the polyvalent reconversion of the plants (to gas or methane); and, more generally, they have to wait for the directive line on which the new National Energy Plan will be traced, which will probably be presented in May. This invita­tion by the government has been accompanied by ample guarantees to the ENEL on financially covering the costs that the company will have to meet because of this interruption; this reassurance has led the ENEL to repay the contracted firms payment of 90 per cent of the sum due. The reason for this was to undo the threat of the workers working on the plant of carrying out more blockades and demonstrations such as happened in March to defend their wages.

For Montalto di C<1$tro over 4,000 billion lire have already been spent and will never be recuperated.

Moreover, as far as the other two electronuclear plants that are functioning are concerned, the one in Trina 1 (VC) and that in Caorso (PC), they have now been closed for several months, while work on the Trina 2 has been interrup­ted. All together the energy of Montalto, Trina and Caorso was to produce about 3000 megawatts, a ridiculous sum in the face of national energy needs.

The Communist Party are now speaking of "out of nu­clear energy" in its project of maintaining "only a technolo­gical presidium".

With its far-seeing decision, the government, as well as being freed from the fictitious opposition to the nuclear pro­gramme (Greens, Proletarian Democracy, Communist Party of Italy, Socialist Party and various other environmentalist associations), has taken away any reason for struggle from those who follow the great symbolic objectives. Over the past twelve years they have participated in blockades, demons­trations, decisions and counter-decisions, recourse and appeals, also at institutional level.

That such centralised objectives are no more than an empty wrapping is a fact that can no longer be in any doubt today as the great technological transformations operated by capital have led to decentralising and pulverisation of its in­dustrial project over the whole territory, and the consequent abandoning of the "great cathedrals" (read graveyard fac­tories). Any kind of struggle-moreover in defence of an arrangement that is gradually disappearing-based on huge

1988

(1 ), (2) VW>ANAoS. BENEDETTO PO A '---------A ... KRSKO ..

(from page 3) • PREVUICA

(4) ENEA: Ente Nazionale per !'Energia A!temativa

(Alternative Energy Board)

central objectives, has dragged along the old proletarian composition of these large production areas, breaking them up over the territory.

In fact the symbolic objectives of that struggle do not seem to have altered capital's projects of restructuring and State control; in fact, though not deliberately, they have ended up favouring it, making the proletarian movement re­

treat to a defensive position that saw it losing on all fronts concerning the social and economic conditions acquired, with the loss of large slices of guaranteed income by large social groupings due to the sackings. The quality of life has also suddenly been reduced.

Now that it seems the nuclear power stations have formally been put down by the Government, how can these antagonists who on this level have fought generously, defying police baton charges and-worse-the incomprehension of the workers, more intent on saving their own miserable salaries than on putting an end to the death productions, react?

The production of death has not been interrupted by the closure of the plants.

Now what faces all of us is the serious problem of how to attack and destroy the development of atom technology, which is not only interested in keeping a few nuclear power stations functioning. The closure of these has on the contrary served to liberate them of the weight of heavy contestation. There is an inseparable link between the civil and military nuclear industry, the militarisation of the social territory, the nuclear research centres all over the country (civil and mili­tary) and industries producing such technology which have contacts with all the new technology present in our country: electronics, micro-electric, information technology, etc. If there is no light thrown on the complexive technological development of capital and the State, where each application of a new technology is strictly linked with other interdepen­dent ones, one ends up fighting only one tentacle, allowing the system to go ahead in an unabated development and domination over society: the tentacle simply reforms else­where, condemning us to a sterile and just as unproductive toil of Sisyphus.

We should be looking for example with a great deal of attention at what is happening in the military field in our country. Very probably the same phenomenon as is hap-

_pening today in the field of arms production will take place; that is, we could become among the largest exporters of such technology, clandestinely and also officially, precisely in virtue of the European Unity of 1992 where frontiers will be abolished, and the multinational dimension of our indust­ries will allow for this kind of game.

One thinks, among other things, of what the Financial Times of last November says where one learns of a report of the American government which was to remain secret (but was instead distributed to thousands of representatives of computer-producing companies) which allied countries are able to produce nuclear arms at the present time. Many of these plants already exist in the countries and are deliber­ately kept hidden. But, according to this "secret" American military report, countries figure in the list that are officially "nuclear-free". The list includes Australia with 5 plants, Belgium with 12, Canada with 13, Denmark with 1, Germany with 37, France with 29, Greece with 2, Italy with 27, Japan with 31, Holland with 9, Norway with 3, Portugal with 2, Great Britain with 25. As we can see Italy, with no function­ing nuclear power stations, finds itself in fourth place.

To struggle against this proliferation of technologies, not only against the nuclear one-if it is true as we have said that in Italy we shall soon assist in an uncontrolled spreading of the same nuclear technology under other names-means to oppose oneself concretely to development on a planetary scale of the projects of domination and ecological devasta-tion of the planet.. ProvocAzione

25

On April 13, the day on which the TAR (Regional Admin­istrative Tribunal) of Lazio granted a repeal to the ENEL who were asking for work to be allowed to recommence on the electronuclear plant at Montalto di Castro (the next day Indus­try minister Battaglia blocked the TAR injunction again "until

the Government expresses itself on the reconversion of the

plant"), three bomb attacks took place against the nuclear project.

During the night paper bombs exploded against an ENEL research laboratory and two firms, the Carlo Gavazzi controls Co which produces condensers and the Passoni and Villa Co which produces electrical and electronic components.

The attacks were claimed by anarchist comrades in a leaflet which reached the ANSA press agency and Radio Popo­lare in Milan the next day.

Immediately-with quite singular haste-some components of the Milan anarchist movement released a communique (see below). The environmental association "Citta Verde" (Green City) also made a declaration.

About a week later, on April 19, another antinuclear bomb exploded against the FITRE electronic communications agency in Milan. This attack was also signed with an encircled A.

1988

The Milan anarchists of Rivista "A", anarchist circle "Ponte della Ghisolfa", Milan FAI (Anarchist Federation) and Utopia bookshop, in confirming their engagement within the struggle movement against the civil and military nuclear pro­gramme, consider that such acts do not serve the growth of libertarian consciousness and the anti-nuclear movement of which they are an active part.

Following the news of the explosion of paper-bombs near the Enel offices in Milan which were claimed by non specified "anarchists" the Milan anarchists who recognise themselves in the organisations and initiatives listed below, in confirming their engagement within the movement of struggle against the civil and military nuclear industry, the day after the pro­vocatory decision by the Lazio TAR to grant the appeal by the ENEL against the suspension of work on the Montalto di Castro power station, consider that such acts do not contri­bute to the growth of that libertarian consciousness and anti­nuclear movement of which they feel themselves to be an active part. "A "-Rivista Anarchica Anarchist Circle "Ponte della Ghisolfa" Milan FAI (Italian Anarchist Federation) Utopia Bookshop

Not only do we not recognise ourselves in the positions ex­pressed in the communiques, but we consider them a social democratic position dictated by a spirit of pusillanimity and cowardice aimed at keeping away possible repression from oneself. We recognise such antinuclear actions as anarchist and insurrectionalist and we openly give our solidarity to the comrades who carried them out coherently with what we al­ways maintain on the need for the practice of objectives spread over the social territory and the radical attack against the atom technology, not only against the nuclear plants.

We consider these practices of sabotage useful to in­crease the awareness of the exploited in a revolutionary sense, in that they contribute to dissolving the present spec­tacle put into effect by the fictitious antinuclear opposition in a parliamentary ambit They also radicalise the social clash, inviting proletarians to carry out their own subversive direct action outside and against any delegation. The deve­lopment of the antinuclear movement in a revolutionary direction also passes by this road.

As always, we shall continue to support coherently and with dignity these positions and everything that comrades do in this direction, publishing eventual communiques that reach our editorial, against any cowardly attempt at internal or ex temal isolation and criminalisation carried out by the crows of social democracy within the antinuclear movement. Without fear, as it should be for undomesticated anarchists, but in struggle against the State and capital, we are not afraid to confront repression openly.

Milan editorial of "Anarchismo" and "ProvocAzione"

A meeting took place in Rome of all t)le comrades interest­ed in an antinuclear demonstration to be held concurrently with the National Energy Conference on February 24 to 27 in that city instead of Venice as originally planned.

The proposal expressed in the following circular was the basis for the meeting. It had been read and discussed by com­rades in many parts of Italy beforehand: on December 17 in the Faculty of Political Science at Milan University, at a conference in Bologna on January 11, at an antinuclear meeting in Dalo on January 17, for example. The meeting ended in a decision to demonstrate in Rome on February 27.

From the events at Trino Vercellese(l) to those at Montalto di Castro(2), all the different forms of opposition that make up the antinuclear front and their different positions have become evident.

We have reached a vital crossroads: on the one side all the reformist political forces who propose and support referendum and put the struggle on an institutional level, integrating what was once an autonomous movement into the parliamentary logic (see Communist Party, Proletarian Democracy, Greens, environmentalists and various pacifists). On the other side are the antagonists in favour of the deve­lopment and broadening of anti-institutional opposition in the social field, starting from the refusal of the former's proposals and pointing out the need for the antinuclear struggle to remain within a class dimension, outside the institutional framework, autonomous from the parties and based on direct action and total selfmanagement (anarchists, libertarians, autonomists and other nonaligned comrades who agree on these points).

Given the urgent need for social intervention that these questions cause, we feel the time has come for the whole movement to put an end to delay and take a clear public position on this question.

An occasion for this could be a demonstration to be held in Venice on the occasion of the National Energy Conference promoted by the ENEL(3) and the ENEA(4) with the pat­ronage and participation of all the parliamentary forces. We therefore propose a demonstration based on the following aims: 1) To come out and demonstrate outside and against theinstitutional framework and so break away from the terroristimage presented by the media who say the only possibleform of opposition is the institutional one. This is the firststep in contributing to dissolving the blackmail hanging over.any autonomous socic1 initiative due to the special laws nowin force. The aim of th!S is to make possible the creation ofa mass movement of antagonism that is autonomous, anti­institutional and anticapitalist which moves outside the pathof fictitious opposition of the reformist parties.2) To underline the validity of all subversive forms ofstruggle expressed as direct action by their complete self-­management and refusal of the parliamentary logic and dele­gation. To oppose all referendums proposed by the politicalforces, affirming revolutionary abstentionism as the onlyroad for a real development of an antinuclear struggle thatexpresses itself in direct opposition, not only through block­ades at the plants, but extended over the whole social terri­tory, for a generalisation of the attack on atomic technology.Seeing the factories producing such technology, nuclear re­search centres both nationalised and private, ENEL offices,etc as objectives also to be aimed at3) To oppose the nuclear military project, fight to dis­mantle the missile bases and all the atomic armaments pre­sent in the national territory. Taking up a coherent anti­militarism starting from subversive agitation at social levelamong those called to do military service. Indicating refusalthrough mass desertion. Carrying the attack to recruiting

(1), (2), (3), (4) - see page 11

1987

drives of both army and police including the private sector. Contesting all military parades and conferences linked to armaments, inviting proletarians to undo control in the barr­acks through acts of rebellion against military discipline. All this to confirm socially our deep hostility and desire to oppose ourselves to repression and the militarisation of the social territory radically, demonstrating a sense of perma­nent conflict against all the structures of dominion. 4) Parallel to this, to carry out actions that operate forms ofdirect pressure on the media in such a way as to prevent anyterroristic criminalisation of these subversive expressions ofopposition demonstrating against the death project of capitaland the State, as it is precisely these practices that preparethe field for State repression.

In our opinion the anarchist movement should begin to express itself concretely. It must make clear its will to quali­tatively raise the social clash, with autonomous and anti­institutional struggle against authoritarianism, levelling and massification produced by an artificial opposition expressed by the reformist movements and parties in an attempt to recuperate the antagonists.

For this reason we propose a large NATIONAL ANTI­NUCLEAR DEMONSTRATION to be held in Venice on Jan-uary 24 on the last day of the National Energy Conference. - NO TO THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY, MILITARISM ANDSTATE REPRESSION- NO TO REFERENDUMS, DELEGATION AND THEPARLIAMENTARY LOGIC- NO TO CRIMINALISATION AND REPRESSION OFTHE ANTAGONIST MOVEMENT BY PARTIES, UNIONS,MEDIA, JUDICIARY, POLICE- NO TO SOCIAL CONTROL AND MILITARISATION OFTHE SOCIAL TERRITORY- YES TO DIRECT ACTION, SELF-MANAGEMENT,ANTI-NUCLEAR STRUGGLE AND ITS DEVELOPMENTOUTSIDE THE INSTITUTIONS- YES TO THE SPREADING OF THE SOCIAL ATTACKAGAINST NUCLEAR ENERGY TO ALL THE TERRI­TORIAL STRUCTURES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO ITSDEVELOPMENT BOTH PUBLICLY AND PRIVATELY.

January 22 anarchist deserter Orazio Valastro is arrested during an antimilitarist demonstration in Catania organised by the local anarchist group. He had recently returned from France where he had been living to avoid arrest, having already done several months in prison and finding himself faced with a prospect of

release. This situation could go on till he reached the age of 45. He had returned from France in the conviction that it was necessary to continue his struggle against the Italian military structure and logic.

17

--

AGAINST NUCLEAR POWER! LET US FAN THE FLAMES OF REVOLT!

All those who support the nuclear plan in Italy, which is sponsored by the ENEL, the ENEA and the government, have made an appointment at the great National Energy Con­ference in Rome (February 24/27). They are dreaming of the "atomic orgasm". Their apparent enemies, the Greens, en­vironmentalists, the pacifists are playing the card of the re­ferendum, like civil rights conjurors with the aim of drawing us into their miserable parliamentary spectacle. It is very im­portant for them to make the reformist illusion seem like the possibility for transforming this society, and so consign us into the hands of our enemies without any trouble. We will not fall victim to the trap laid by these false opposers who, because of their own power-wielding interests are aiming at bartering our struggle with the institutions.

NO TO THE REFERENDUM No illusions. Peaceful coexistence in today's society of the spectacle simply means an equilibrium of the terror instaured by the State police bodies, along with the parties and the trade unions. Each day is a war that one fights so as not to succumb, so as not to die right away. It is a struggle for survival at knife­point which_lea$ the exploited to docilely follow the in­dications of their butchers, the Power specialists. Instead of lining up against the real enemy, they often walk side by side with them. We must make our dreams a new reality that rises up aagainst the old one that would nail us to the hearse of power. We shall unmask all those who are against subversion and who want the perpetuation of existing society. Let us put an end to the miserable spectacle produced by capital that reduces

1987

life to mere mercantile survival, where every social relation­ship is reduced to a constant prostitution of oneself. Let us burn every political perspective that prevents the putting into practice of real freedom, generalised self-management applied to every aspect of life. We are for social Insurrection and Anarchy: that is why we are not interested in resolving the problems and contradictions of this system of death. To the mountains of scrap paper produced by those who support and practice parliamentarian referendums, we oppose d i r e c t a c t i o n , the only possibility of really transforming this society because it points out the need for attack against the structures of dominion (including the nu­clear ones) and the objectives to aim at. Our allies and accomplices are the antagonists and rebels, because they want to live, not vegetate, rising up and making a mockery of the reformists preaching survival. We do not want to simply shut down the power stations that are functioning or being built, but aim towards the destruc­tion of all the production of death and the whole atom tech­nology. Not at saving a part of it as the reformists would like to do, reducing the question to the closure of a few sta­tions. The media publicity serves the government so that it can finish building those under construction in the shortest poss­ible time, fix the time for the dismantling of those already functioning (all the fission stations) and finally relaunch the research plan for the exploitation of "fusion" nuclear energy. We denounce the fictitious operation (by the Socialist Party, Proletarian Democracy, the Greens, the environmentalists) who first agreed to participate in the conference, then de­clined the invitation accusing it of being a "nuclear Trojan horse" and are basing everything on the referendum. So their "nuclear battle" simply consists of requesting the closure of the plants in operation and cessation of work on those under construction. Circumscribing the antinuclear struggle in this way they are doing a great service to the industries produc­ing such technology (eg Ansaldi who produce reactors) and the petrol multinationals (AGIP, ESSO etc) who have invest­ed massive amounts of capital in the development of the nuclear industry and who are not in the least touched by these requests. In fact the profits linked to the construction of the plants in our country are so small compared to their foreign trade. It is up to comrades to unravel this swindle desired not only by the government but by all those who support the referendum. We must look at the reasons behind things and radicalise and extend the struggle which in our opinion must undo the plans of those in favour of nuclear power by working territorially for the dismantling of the in­dustries producing nuclear technology with proletarian direct action. No one can offer us any alternative to struggle out side the institutions which are all, willingly or not, constrain­ed to game-playing. Even the tranquil citizens who are watching us bemused or annoyed while we demonstrate to day find themselves faced with a choice. This could be the beginning of something new, something that does not exist yet because we must build it together. Or are you also for the end of everything, prepared to suc­cumb to permanent survival?

"Anarchismo" and "ProvocAzione" editorial group Palenno Anarchist Group Catania Anarchist Group Rome Anarchist Group Anarchist Committee for Social Counterinformation, Milan

Sabotage in Bologna during the night between 27-28 February. Two ENEL pylons were sawn down with simple hacksaws.

The bosses of the earth and their Press lie to us! To keep us down while the planet is being bumped off with all of us living on it.

NO to the bosses of the earth. NO to nuclear power. NO to the F 16s.

During the night between 12 and 13 March another two pylons were sawn down: one in the area of Rome Settebagni, a few metres from the southbound motorway; another in the Rogliano (Cosenza) area.

The sabotage was claimed with a letter to the press agency Ansa, in which unknown comrades declared themselves to be against nuclear power stations.

During the night of February 17-18 two electricity pylons were attacked: one in the region of Montalto di Castro and one near the nuclear power plant in Caorsa.

As often happens, the news concerning the damage is contradictory: some speak of serious damage which would have been even greater had the pylon fallen completely. Others speak of slight damage. The confusion is considerable and makes us think about the way these two items of news were given. Clearly it is worrying news for the State/establishment/media, because it concerns a revolutionary practice, sabotage, which the State has, ever since the beginning of workers' movement struggles, al­ways had great difficulty in controlling.

l�M7

We don't know whether the damage was slight or not, and we are not particularly interested. It is the method that counts. We consider once again, and are saying it loud and clear before a heavy hand comes down over our mouths, that it is a method of great interest for the development of the antinuclear-and not only antinuclear-struggle.

The method of direct attack against small objectives spread over the social territory is far more effective than the great spectacular actions and the demonstrations that are as spectacu­lar as they are innocuous. The State knows very well how to manage and exploit these grand actions (kidnappings, armed attacks against large objectives, in fact all of that revolutionary apparatus that requires considerable availability of means and training). It also knows how to exploit the great demonstrations that serve as a safety valve when the pressure of the mass gets too great. What it does not know, and no State can afford a blanket control of the kind without transforming itself into a repressive monster, is how to control and prevent simple direct attacks against the distribution over the social territory of structures that are responsible for projects of repression and death.

A sign of not knowing what to do comes from the comments of the politicians and professionals of repression con­cerning this actiem. Right away they began to cry"terrorism", "provocation", speak of monstrous degeneration, episodes that "have nothing to do with the environmentalist movement", and such like. The police have made it known that they have "inten­sified surveillance" in the Caorsa and Montalto areas. We do not know what the Minister for Home Affairs or the Defence Minis­ter thinks. Perhaps they are studying the way to put a carabin­ieri or a policeman at the foot of each electricity pylon? Any­thing is possible. But Italy is a large country. There are many pylons, and saws are on sale freely .in all ironmongers' shops.

ProvocAzione

23

... Radical opposition also means knowledge. In the specific

case of the nuclear question, rather than lists of facts and

statistics, it is interesting to observe for example that as it is

the system that pays science, this is never neutral. Given that

the system bases its existence on profit, it is mathematically

certain that science will operate with that aim. Poor-lucid­shining-robotised-opposers who believe it is enough to find

clean energy and everything will be all right Suffice it to remember that until not long ago ESSO contributed to the construction of nuclear plants to the tune of millions. Now, given the perhaps too many critics and perplexities back home in the USA, the multinational has begun to occupy itself with solar energy. No sooner said than done: ESSO now control BO per cent of the world market for the pro­duction of solar panels. If you don't know how photovoltaic

cells are built, try asking those who make them how ecologi­cal the acids and the rubbish they handle (and the perfumes they breathe) are.

Dolo "Kollective"

1

1987

Palermo Military Tribunal sentences Giuseppe Coniglio to 14

months' prison . Total objector Giuseppe also went on a hunger strike for

15 days when he was first imprisoned in protest against

attempts by the military screws to get him to wear prison army uniform (a boiler suit).

Pylon sabotaged at S. Giovanni in P.! Happy New Year! By the 'Wildcats'.

Let's put some colour in life carrying out direct action against the structures of death, the State, Capital.

10-100-1,000 pylons down!!

Pylon sabotaged at Monterenzio (BO) January 6 1988. We want to breathe AIR not inhale foul homicidal waste. We want to drink WATER not toxic and repulsive gunge. We want to eat FOOD not radioactive, dangerous and

disgusting 'alimentation'. We want to work to LIVE not die producing surplus

value for the few; waste; military and represshe structures of unheard dimensions.

We want to LIVE AND DIE WITH DIGNITY respecting our nurse, the earth and her children.

We do not want to vegetate in a 'civil' 'free' 'demo­cratic' 'society' that is nothing other than the annihilation of everything that is beautiful, is nothing but genocide, suffer­ing, the annihilation of life.

We want PEACE not social peace, which is the essential condition for the quiet accomplishment of the end of the world at the hands of the imperialist powers and their accom­plice peoples and States.

So:

SABOTAGE WAR

to reaffirm DIGNITY

the tribe at war for life

10, 100, 1,000 ENEL pylons down. Against nuclear power plants. A Sabotage the ENEL structures. Direct action against nuclear power. A The State and ENEL are terrorists. No to nuclear power A

These writings appeared in Palermo in solidarity with the actions where electricity pylons of the ENEL company were sawn through in Caorsa and Montalto (central line). These are the latest examples in a series of acts of sabotage that have been carried out for some time now all over Italy.

We think the development of this type of action is really incisive in the antinuclear struggle against the State. Not by chance has it unleashed repressive action against all the com­rades in the area where the sabotage was carried out. The latest example is the raids in Bologna, and at the home of editor of Provocazione and Anarchismo in Catania.

Why are the police and the judiciary unleashing such a disproportionate response to this kind of action? In our opinion these direct actions that anyone can accomplish at any time and in any place, possibly frighten them more than the very formation of a closed armed group. This is because the specific armed group is controllable due to the pro­gramme and logic that it adheres to, while the spreading of acts of sabotage puts the power structure in difficulty because anyone can carry out such acts. It is enough to obtain a hacksaw and choose a pylon.

This does not please the Greens, the pacifists or environ­mentalists because such actions undermine their work as politicians tending to homogenise the movement to their practice of platonic dissent.

Against the high priests of ecology we reaffirm our antagonism and disdain.

For we antagonists direct action is an attack against the structures producing nuclear energy.

Palermo anarchist group

In the puerile attempt to block the antimilitarist initia­tives undertaken in support of the struggle of Orazio Vala­stro and Giuseppe Coniglio, the police have begun to apply a constant logic of intimidation towards the anarchists.

The repeated demonstrations, leafletting, loudhailing, graffiti and posters appearing in the city are clearly strik­

ing home, and the organs of power and systematic repression have rolled over in the mud they normally lie in.

Blanket control of all present at the public presenta­tion by 30 February Anarchist Circle and Palermo Anarchist Group; posters belonging to the exhibition pulled down; raids on the homes of the most combative comrades the

following morning; charges of "instigation to commit a crime" and "slandering of the armed forces"; comrades called to police headquarters under pretext of finding who was responsible for graffiti, and the sequestration of the photographic exhibition.

The obvious aim is to intimidate and keep quiet the only really antagonistic voice in the city, that of the anarchists. Aim that has failed miserably given the comrades' coherent and combative response to these merceneries. The only thing they managed to take home was 'a bad image'.

Palermo Anarchist Group

At the end of July a special convoy carrying a motor destined for the cooling system at the Montalto di Castro nuclear power station was attacked.

The convoy had to stop in a parking space during the 11ight following a block in traffic of heavy lorries and long vehicles.

The engine, valued at over three billion lire was set fire to by persons unknown with petrol which according to police only damaged the electrical system slightly, while more serious damage was done to the special trailer it was being transported on.

Immediately all the various environmentalist associations took a distance from the attack, "an act quite extraneous to the history and methods of the Italian antinuclear move­ment. The same applies to the Greens, who stated, "the nuclear project can only be stopped by rigorously nonviolent actions and a wide possibility for debate and discussion".

At the end of July Orazio V alastro was released from Palermo military prison. The demonstrations held in his favour and the struggles carried out by Orazio personally in prison, finally obliged the Italian army to step back, cancelling the threat hang­ing over him of repeated imprisonment till the age of 45.

Not being able to save face any other way, the warlords responsible for so-called military justice had recourse to the for­mula of reforming Orazio, declaring him 'sociopathic' therefore illadapted for military service. This decision was made by the army alone. Orazio, in line with his uncompromising stand against the army refused to sign anything to this effect. All the same if 'sociopathic' means to be against the army and capitalist society with all their logic of exploitation ang death, then here's hoping that deserters, anarchists and 'sociopaths' will multiply.

Giuseppe Coniglio is arrested on August 25 and taken to Palermo military prison. Between the time of publicly refusing the army and his arrest he had participated in many debates, punk concerts and exhibitions, etc, making his choice and his reasons known all over the country.

19

On February 24 , the opening day of the National Energy Con­ference, a demonstration of secondary school pupils took place in Turin. Although the demo had been organised by the official left youth parties, the day was !lpoiled for them when part of the students, along with anarchists and autonomists, broke into the Chamber of Commerce which was on the route and inter­rupted a meeting of the representatives of the environmentalist movement. Speakers were insulted, and paint bombs thrown against the official speakers.

February 27, the last day of the National Energy Conference, was one rich in antinuclear activity. Among other things the "national antinuclear coordination" organised a blockade, a march and a meeting with the workers and local population at Montalto di Castro. In Rome the demonstration organised by a part of the anarchist movement took place, marked by a clear choice and determination to radicalise the antinuclear struggle and move towards a qualitative development of objectives spread over the whole social territory.

In Rome "Friends of the Earth" shock some incredulous com­rades by participating in a demonstration organised by the fasc­ist ecology group "Fare Verde" (do green).

1987

March 13 Giuseppe Coniglio tears up his call up card, explaining his antimilitarist convictions which led him to totally object· to doing national service. This took place during a public meet­ing of the Orazio Valastro Committee at the social science faculty at Catania University.

20

Leaflet given out on an antimilitarist demo in Catania on April 4 1987

In recent times Sicily has become more and more mili­tarised. (Comiso; firing range in the Nebrodi mountains, pro­posed depot for radioactive waste in Pasquasia, etc) and increasingly drawn into international tension in the Mediter­ranean (American aggression in Libya, Italian intervention in the Lebanon).

But military is also nuclear. In fact civil nuclear produc­tion does not exist because because all the research in this field is carried out within the military structures then passed into the civil field. Moreover, a large part of the radioactive waste from the nuclear power stations is used for the building of atomic weapons.

The antinuclear struggle therefore also passes into the struggle against the military and therefore to the refusal of national service.

The oppressive and dehumanising institution of the army is moreover one of the reasons that is pushing many young men to commit suicide in the barracks because they cannot find any meaning in that year of enforced detention.

But thousands of other youths are rebelling every day choosing different forms of struggle (from conscientious objection to total objection, to desertion). Among these the anarchist Orazio Valastro who has deserted the army and was already sentenced to five months' imprisonment in 1982 and to 8 months in February 1987. He risks spending most of the rest of his life till the age of 45 in prison.

Let us rebel against the logic of the State that wants young people to commit suicide in the barracks and put in prison all those who rebel against this logic.

Against the militarisation and nuclearisation of the social territory.

For the liberation of Orazio Valastro and all the other antimilitarists in prison.

Catania Antimilitarist Committee

•

May 17 a meeting is held in Rome where a national defence committee for the defence of Orazio Valastro is formed to coor­dinate the many demonstrations, pickets, etc that are taking place in many parts of Italy demanding his immediate release from prison.

1987

Kaids and intimidation in Sicily: four in Ragusa (Franco Leggio, editor of "La Fiaccola" anarchist publications, Pippo Gurrieri, editor of anarchist paper "Sicilia Llbertaria", Ragusa anarchist circle, and another comrade); one in Modica, the printer who prints "Sicilia Ll.bertaria"; one in Giarratana (home of anar­chist an timilitarist Pippo Scarso) and two in Pietraperzia (village near Pasquasia). The reason for the raids: searching f or arms and explosive material. The only thing found was a copy of a leaflet published in Sicilia Libertaria concerning the attack on the Pasquasia pylon.

Palermo Tribunal open instruction against eight people includ­ing anarchist comrade Alfredo Bonanno. They are all accused of theft, arson and defamation. The accusation relates to the attack on General Casarico's holiday home about which a communique was published in the anarchist monthly Provoc­

Azione of which Alfredo is editor.

Orazio Valastro is accused by the Public Procurator of the Turin Tribunal of "condoning various crimes, instigating soldiers t o break the law, violation of sworn duties inherent to his status as a soldier". At the same time Alfredo Bonanno is accused of "instigation to commit a crime and instigation to soldiers to break the law". He responds by republishing the article at the source of these accusations .